NORTH COAST FORUM STATEMENT

FORUM DECLARATION

BY TANJONG BUNGA RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION (TBRA), BATU FERRINGHI RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION (BFRA)
& FORUM PARTICIPANTS

We, the Tanjong Bunga Residents’ Association (TBRA), the Batu Ferringhi Resident’s Association (BFRA) & all participants of the Forum entitled “Overdevelopment on the North Coast” held on 17^th April 2010 at the Paradise Sandy Beach Hotel in Tanjong Bunga, do hereby declare that:

1. the border of Tanjong Bunga starts from Jalan Gajah and ends just before the Desa Mar Vista Resort;

2. Tanjong Bunga is in the Secondary Corridor and the diagram shown in the published State Structure Plan was wrongfully amended by the previous State Government to show Tanjong Bunga within the Primary Corridor; the diagram is to be considered null & void since it was changed secretly by the previous State Government via the then CM without following legal procedures;

3. the text in the State Structure Plan and the legend of the diagram clearly state that Tanjong Bunga is in the Secondary Corridor and take precedence over the changed diagram;

4. the present State Government has the legal authority and the moral obligation to rectify this glaring anomaly and to take all necessary measures to ensure that Tanjong Bunga remains in the Secondary Corridor;

5. the soon to be released State Local Plan must incorporate and clearly show Tanjong Bunga to be within the Secondary Corridor zone, which sets strict limits & requirements on all development projects;

6. all approved projects which have not commenced yet, are to be reviewed, esp. in terms of density, to be in line with Secondary Corridor requirements;

7. all future development projects in Tanjong Bunga & Batu Ferringhi must comply and not exceed the density guidelines of the Secondary Corridor;

8. all current and future proposed development projects in Tanjong Bunga & Batu Ferringhi must take into account the serious infrastructure limitations currently faced in these two areas;

9. that NO FURTHER approvals be granted henceforth for all dangerous hill slope development projects on Class III & Class IV hill slopes in Tanjong Bunga & Batu Ferringhi;

10. that all future development projects MUST NOT cause any environmental degradation such as soil erosion that leads to sea & beach pollution, thus severely affecting our local recreational use of beach & open space, the tourism industry & the MM2H programme;

11. that there be no land reclamation along the North Coast until and unless a comprehensive Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment (SEIA) is undertaken and approved by ad-hoc panel of experts (not only by the State Government or MPPP);

12. that at least two Public Recreational Parks be created for easy access by all: one on the top of Pearl Hill and the other on the rock pile, the so-called Sore Thumb, next to the Penang Swimming Club; plans for both these Public Parks have been submitted for gazetting.

We make the above Declaration as concerned citizens and residents of Penang and call upon our State Government to take all measures necessary to implement the above points in the public interest.

By

TBRA, BFRA & FORUM PARTICIPANTS

Tanjong Bunga, 17 April 2010

Press Release

PRESS STATEMENT

Public Forum on Overdevelopment along the entire North Coast of Penang

Organised by Tanjong Bunga & Batu Ferringhi Residents’ Associations

There will be a Public Forum on Saturday, 17 April 2010 from 8.00pm to 11.00pm at the Paradise Sandy Beach Hotel to highlight Over Development and apparent Unplanned Development along Penang’s North Coast from Tg Tkong to Teluk Bahang.

The Press is invited to attend and hear what residents and NGO’s have to say about the mushrooming of high rise buildings, the savage hill cutting and spoiling of the beaches in Tanjong Bunga and Batu Ferringhi. It is obvious that the traffic situation is going from bad to worse and jointly we need to reflect and raise awareness about what can be done to preserve our environment and maintain a liveable community along the coast. State Government officials will be invited, not to give speeches but listen to the people. One exception, the ADUN for Tanjong Bunga, Y.B. Teh, will give the opening address.

Uncontrolled development has become a major concern initially to Tanjong Bunga and Tanjong Tokong residents but now even more to those living in Batu Ferringhi. They have recently created their own RA, the Batu Ferringhi Resident’s Association (BFRA) and have an active blogsite. In fact, all Penang residents who used to enjoy a ‘day out on the beach’ will be affected. Moreover, the trend toward Over & Uncontrolled development is likely to happen in the same manner in other districts of the State.

The main issues that will be highlighted and discussed at the Saturday night Forum are:

1. Zoning issues: Tanjong Bunga must be in the Secondary Development Corridor and deliberate but secret and illegal changes must be set right.
2. Traffic and other Infrastructure cannot cope, despite vague promises.
3. Beach encroachment, illegal reclamations – who benefits?
4. Dangerous Hill development on Class III & IV slopes – disasters in waiting
5. The Importance of the Local Plan in the proper development of Penang.

The Forum will point out the many inconsistencies of the past and current State governments relating to limits on density, construction projects on very steep hills and other uncontrolled developments. The eventual effects of such overdevelopment if not quickly resolved will be serious and far reaching.

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For more information: tanjongbunga@yahoo.com or Lee Laine at 012-5811123, bfrapenang@gmail.com or Phil Langham at 017-5398867

Blogs: http://tanjongbunga.blogspot.com or http://bfrapenang.blogspot.com

NORTH COAST FORUM

Cape of Flowers

Welcome to the Flower Cape !

By now everybody will have seen the huge mural painted on the wall across from the Tanjong Bunga Hotel. It was not just done because someone thought the wall was ugly and a Welcome would be nice. It is a message with flowers (bunga) to remind the State government that this is where Tanjong Bunga starts, not at Mar Vista !

Together with our State Assembly man, YB Teh, TBRA thought it had to remind the government and the MPPP that the official boundaries of Tanjong Bunga town start from Jalan Gajah (near the mural) and finish at the Mar Vista Resort whose official address is 1 Jalan Batu Ferringhi. Why would they not know? Why would they want to forget? Here is the story in brief.

When deciding on zoning the State, the previous government, by right, considered Tanjong Bunga to be a tourist zone and a residential area and placed it in the Secondary Development Corridor. So the wording of the 2005 Structure Plan put Tanjong Bunga into a green zone. When the Structure Plan was printed, the wording was still there but the diagrams illustrating the zones had been changed from green to orange. That meant Primary Development Corridor. That meant that by one stroke of a colouring pencil, the permissible density of our town had changed, allowing for all kinds of high rises and commercial buildings. Believe it or not, by the colouring, Tanjong Bunga starts at Mar Vista. And since Mar Vista is in Batu Ferringhi, Tanjong Bunga has been wiped off the map. It ceased to exist.

TBRA has protested against this for years, first nicely, then by way of lawyers’ letters and via top level meetings. Nothing doing. The State government, the MPPP, all refused to listen. So this flower mural was yet one other attempt to get our point across. In the last meeting with the head of Planning, TBRA asked if any of the staff remembered how the colouring happened. After some hesitation, they said that it was the former CM, Koh Tsu Koon himself, who personally instructed the staff to change the colour of Tanjong Bunga. Some twenty people in the room heard this, noted this and wrote it into the Minutes of that meeting.

The Minutes were sent out to all concerned starting with the very top, i.e. the current CM, and adding that since this was an illegal act, there should be a moratorium on all further plans handed in for approval. Not until the Structure Plan diagram is corrected, should any permit be given to start constructing one more condo. The answer to date? Silence. Silence is golden, they say, but there are times when silence pays rich dividends.

Welcome to Tanjong Bunga !