Year End Update

Batu Ferringhi is within the secondary development corridor. It is an area set aside for tourism and leisure. The only residential development allowed is low density housing to a maximum of 3 floors on steep slopes. The picture above is Batu Ferringhi in December of 2010. In the centre back ground is the Tower at Bayu Ferringhi. By Plentitude a high density housing project in the heart of Batu Ferringhi tourist area. The tower is now topped out but not before growing above the hill top.
On the back of the same hill the estate called Moonlight bay. Four floor houses built on the side of a very steep hill on stilts. The developer claims it was designed to Mediterranean standards. Below is a picture of an illegal Israeli settlement built on occupied Palestinian land. This picture may substantiate the claim!




In the foreground of the previous picture is the Island Bay high density housing development by Ivory. Multiple towers being constructed on the side of a very steep hill slope. Now very apparent, as you drive along the only access road to the main tourist area of Batu Ferringhi. This site took weeks of rock blasting to create a flat area large enough to build these towers on. How safe only time will tell. The environmental impact is probably devastating; it certainly is to the wildlife that lost its habitat to this development. Improvements to the existing infrastructure zero! Low density housing 15 units to the acre totally forgotten. No high rise developments on steep slopes, disregarded.



Shamrock beach development. 62 Eco friendly tin roof shacks. 30 are complete and just four are lived in one year after completion! The developer is now building the remaining 32 units six days a week 12 hours per day. Exactly which part of this development is Eco friendly is not at all clear. Possibly the use of energy saving light bulbs! Will anyone actually live there or will this be just another investors ghost town! How much more housing does this Eco sensitive once pristine area need? How many years will Batu Ferringhi have to wait for much needed improvements to the infrastructure? How many more of these housing projects will our government approve? Why did the tax payers of Penang pay to have a structure plan developed if there was no intent to follow it?
Happy Christmas to all and may your God be with you in 2011.

As it Used to be!

This picture was taken from Google Earth in April of 2010. it was used during the forum held by TBRA and BFRA The picture shows 2.2 kilometers of the North coast of Penang. It is an area of outstanding natural beauty. It is the reason for many people to visit Penang. It is the reason that this area was put into the Secondary development corridor an area set aside for tourism and leisure and low density housing!



This picture was taken from Google Earth in September 2010. It shows the same 2.2 kilometers of the North coast of Penang. It is no longer an area of outstanding natural beauty! It has been destroyed and covered in concrete! In order to gain access to the main beach and hotel area it is now necessary to travel along a dangerous winding road which is overloaded with construction traffic. You have to look at buildings instead of rain forest.
To developers rain forest indicates a green field site to be turned into money! Our MPPP (Penang Council)should be protecting this area and setting it aside as an area of outstanding natural beauty! To be used and appreciated by all for tourism and leisure! Tourism was the golden egg of Penang. Sadly the people responsible for maintaining it have cooked the goose that laid the egg! It can never be the same again! It has completely lost it's charm and paradise has been paved over!

SUNDAY AFTERNOON!

Welcome to Jalan Batu Ferringhi on a Sunday afternoon!



While you are in Batu Ferringhi why not try out the Hawker food stall.



We even have reserved parking for you!



BUT PLEASE TAKE YOUR TIME TO ENJOY OUR TRAFFIC! DRIVE SAFE AND ARRIVE ALIVE!

More Destruction?

http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/20100806002148/Article/#ixzz0xsuWWxbG

IVORY Properties Group Bhd will buy a plot of land measuring 0.5ha in Bandar Batu Ferringhi, Penang, for RM25 million.

Ivory told Bursa Malaysia yesterday that it had entered into a conditional sale and purchase agreement with Lim Soon Hin and Lim Soon Vin for the purpose.

It plans to build 96 units of condominium with an estimated GDV of RM159 million on the land.



http://www.theedgeproperty.com/news-a-views/4302-ivory-prop-acquires-batu-ferringhi-land-for-rm25m.html

By E Jacqui Chan of theedgeproperty.com
Thursday, 05 August 2010 19:47

KUALA LUMPUR: Ivory Properties Group Berhad via its wholly owned subsidiary, Ivory Meadows Sdn Bhd is acquiring a 1.103-acre tract of land along Batu Ferringhi, Penang for RM25 million, it said on Thursday, Aug 5.

The group entered into a Sales and Purchase Agreement (SAP) with the two owners of the freehold land on Aug 5.

The land is earmarked for a residential project named The Edge, comprising 96 units of condominiums. The estimated gross development value is RM159 million with an estimated gross development cost of RM76 million.

Ivory Properties expects to bring in profits of RM58 million from this project. The development is expected to start next year and will be developed over a span of three years.

The SAP will be made available for inspection at Ivory Properties office at Suite 2-1, 2nd Floor, Menara Penang Garden, 42A Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah 10050 Penang during normal working hours from Mondays to Fridays, except public holidays for a period of one week from the date of the announcement.

Ivory Defends the Monstrosity!

http://www.theedgeproperty.com/news-a-views/4198-penang-property-focus-a-life-of-luxury-with-ivory.html

Penang Property Focus: A life of luxury with Ivory
Datuk Low Eng Hock , Ivory Properties Group , Moonlight Bay

By Regina William of The Edge Malaysia
Sunday, 15 August 2010 00:00
Driving up the winding road to the tourist belt of Batu Ferringhi in Penang, it’s hard to miss the grand homes being built atop a nearby hill. Penang-based Ivory Properties Group says that with its iconic development, Moonlight Bay, it is raising the bar for luxury living on the island.
IS THIS REFERRING TO JALAN BATU FERRINGHI THE LONGEST AND MOST DANGEROUS CAR PARK IN PENANG. WHERE AMBULANCES AND CEMENT TRUCKS MIX WITH BUSES AND MOTORCYCLES, ALL DODGING THE POT HOLES AND OPEN DRAINAGE SYSTEM!
Moonlight Bay was inspired by the charm of the southern European-Mediterranean seaside towns, where villas are built on terraces with sweeping views of the sea. YES YOUR ARTIST IMPRESSIONS LOOK GREAT. HOW ABOUT SOME PHOTOS OF THE REAL THING? OR IS IT POSSIBLE THAT EVEN YOU ARE TOO EMBARRASSED TO SHOW IT FOR WHAT IT IS?



Ivory touts the development, with a GDV of RM190 million, as being like no other in the country. THANK YOU FOR THAT AT LEAST. PROMISE US IVORY THAT YOU WILL NEVER AGAIN BUILD A MONSTROSITY LIKE THIS.

Moonlight Bay raises the bar for luxury living on Penang Island IT DESTROYED A HILL SIDE WE WILL GIVE YOU THAT MUCH!
Sprawling (ACTUALLY STACKED UP ON A NEAR VERTICAL HILL SIDE)over 5.6ha, Moonlight Bay comprises only 70, 4-storey villas and 20 “condovillas” equipped with state-of-the-art-security systems, landscaped gardens, pocket parks, cascading water features,(ESPECIALLY WHEN IT RAINS AND ALL THAT MUD ENDS UP IN THE SEA BELOW) swimming pools,(GOOD AT LEAST THEY WON'T HAVE TO SWIM IN THE SEWAGE BELOW) indoor and outdoor gyms, a 3-storey club house and service lift towers to allow residents to move easily from the top tier 250 ft above sea level to the bottom tier.

Ivory Group managing director Datuk Low Eng Hock
Addressing concerns over building on hillsides, Ivory group managing director Datuk Low Eng Hock says the project adheres to local hillslope development guidelines as well as the guidelines for similar developments in Hong Kong, where they are common.
YES LET HONG KONG KEEP THEM! HILL SLOPE DEVELOPMENT OF MAXIMUM 3 STORIES? MAXIMUM OF 15 HOMES TO THE ACRE? THOSE LOCAL HILL SIDE DEVELOPMENT GUIDELINES?

A retaining wall system that meets both US and European safety standards was built. Because of Moonlight Bay’s elevation there is a low density requirement, but Ivory opted to build 50% fewer units than permitted under the guidelines. The project has been described as an engineering and technical feat because of the challenges of the construction. Each stage was monitored and certified by three teams of independent engineers. STILT HOUSES WITH A WALL TO HIDE THE STILTS SO THAT THE UNSUSPECTING PEOPLE FROM HONG KONG AND SINGAPORE DON'T SEE THEM!

The foundation of each invidividual 4-storey villa is reinforced with caisson piles strong enough structurally to support a 10-storey building. AS LONG AS THE HILL SLOPE IS STABLE AND DOES NOT MOVE!

Retaining as much of the greenery as possible, the entire site has been landscaped into a resort-style garden. TAKE ANOTHER LOOK! THIS WAS ONCE A RAINFOREST SLOPE IT IS NOW BROWN EARTH AND CONCRETE! YOU COULD PAINT ALL THOSE WALLS GREEN!

Low says creating Moonlight Bay was not easy but it is a masterpiece among Ivory’s projects and it has already won several international property awards.THE UGLIEST SITE IN THE WORLD?

The villas, each with its own private lift, have land areas ranging from 2,350 sq ft to 6,550 sq ft and built-ups from 3,800 sq ft to 5,500 sq ft. They are priced from RM2.7 million to RM4.6 million (RM646 per sq ft).

The condovillas range in size from 1,950 sq ft to 2,200 sq ft with prices starting at RM1.2 million to RM1.4 million (RM618 per sq ft). Fifty-eight of the villas and seven of the condovillas have been sold.

Buyers come from as far away as the US, the UK, Italy, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Middle East, Singapore and Indonesia. The keys should be handed over to the owners in August. YET MORE "FOR SALE" SIGNS GOING UP IN AUGUST AS IF WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH EMPTY PROPERTIES ALREADY!

Resort style living at 10 Island Resort
Just a stone’s throw away from Moonlight bay(WHICH YOU FAIL TO SHOW IN THE ARTISTS IMPRESSIONS) is another Ivory project — 10 Island Resort at the famed Miami Beach in Batu Ferringhi, with a spectacular seafront hillside setting.(ANOTHER ILLEGAL HILL SLOPE DEVELOPMENT)



10 Island Resort, with a GDV of RM193 million, comprises three blocks with 266 condominiums and 15, 4-storey resort villas. The density of the condos is low, with only four units per floor on the regular levels, two units on the executive floors and one unit on the penthouse floor. Each unit has a sea view.

Prices range from RM479 per sq ft, with built-ups from 1,100 sq ft to 3,200 sq ft. Completion is expected in 2012. Facilities include a swimming pool and other recreational facilities.

The Soul of Penang

The Soul of Penang
Fast Disappearing…..Laments of a Township.

Please don’t sell Penang down the road!

Once upon a time, as recently as 5 or 6 years ago, you could take a relaxing, cooling, shaded drive up the north coast of Penang, along the sleepy rainforest teaming with local wildlife, the calls of the Langurs and Macaques hanging out, colorful birds singing on one side; and the beautiful, vast blue sea with her quiet inviting beaches on the other that Penangites and Malaysians from all over the country seeked out as their unique water playground. As a child, I remember the clear blue waters we swam in with fish visible clear to the bottom, comparable to the waters of the Greek Islands.... no more! Oh, how I weep for my beloved Penang.

This drive now has become a heavily packed, dangerous, overused utility road for developers with heavy vehicular traffic (lorries and cement trucks) that they have introduced. A curving, slope-hugging roadway that cannot be expanded to accommodate such a large increase in traffic. Many permanent residents worry about the safety of all who use this road, including cyclists and pedestrians, while motorbikes maneuver recklessly around cars and buses.

Random, chaotic, arbitrary development of every meter of hillside and seafront from Tanjong Bunga to Batu Ferringhi has become the norm. Massive high rise developments have up sprung everywhere, haphazardly, right to the edges of the main thoroughfare, the only direct roadway from town to the coastal rainforest/beach/resort areas of this beautiful island, without proper thought or planning for the consequences that come with this kind of rapid development. The steep watershed areas of Tanjong Bunga once reserved, now being developed is of great concern to its residents....what will happen to our water supply? The results of this kind of hill degradation was recently experienced in the form of flash floods by the Chee Seng Garden residents of Tanjong Bunga. We worry about the hill sliding in a heavy monsoon... a mud slide that could cause another Highland Towers or an Antarabangsa!

There are a thousand reasons not to do this to our beloved Penang especially our beach and waterfront areas which should have a unique status as a ‘Special Recreation Area’ for all, not only in the present, but also for posterity. But leaders and consortia of avarice have led Penang‘s Town and Country Planners of public good down a bad road. Worst of all, there is no demand for these high rise apartments, many are lightless at night and empty! They are being heavily marketed by ravenous developers to local “investors” of the mindset that ‘the more property you put your money in the better off you are, a kind of failsafe protection but short sighted and environmentally unsound; but also to “investors” in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, China, Australia, UK,USA etc. advertising grandiose air brushed architect designer plans which never show the real Tanjong Bunga or Batu Ferringhi of congestion that has been created. There is simply an over-supply and over-building which serves no ‘real local or imagined need’ in the saturated housing market. Development of housing should follow demand for housing, which is generally the reason for new developments.

Unchecked corporate avarice has become the motivating force above all, creating uncontrolled, socially irresponsible, and environmentally unsafe, unethical developments. The common good of the residents of Tanjong Bunga and Batu Ferringhi, and all living in Penang, has been put on the back burner, leading us rapidly to a TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS in our neighborhoods. Sometimes, the most valuable things in life cannot be measured in dollars and cents.

Our beaches belong to all of us, not the few who have built right to the sea, developers, corporations and foreign consortia building along and blocking access to the waterfront, which negate the ordinary people’s right to enjoy the beautiful beaches and seaside of Penang.

A beachside recreational park for all posterity, for all the people of Penang and her mainland, is a priority. We need public lands set aside for the well being of the people of Penang. Our State Town and Country Planning Board and our State Government in their vision for Penang must take into account the wishes of the people of Penang and all its MM2H stakeholders.

To the new Government of Penang, please listen to the cries of your people. Please don’t continue the plans made previously. Hill cutting to build shoddy structures to house absentee investor residents and serve a few developers in Penang, which may lead to death and/or property destruction in these uncertain times of increased earth tremors, must be taken seriously, and has criminal implications. It cannot be deemed “not the fault of the developer” in Penang when they come tumbling down because of such negligence.

To all those involved...Please stop the permanent environmental damage and destruction, and the permanent aesthetic degradation and “visual eye sore” of the unique Penang landscape of coastal rainforest once rich with wildlife and our dying beautiful beaches and waterfront. Let’s work together on changing this. Please get involved and FREE OUR PENANG.

Let’s keep the “Pearl of the Orient” simply that!... and not let it become the “Toilet of the Orient” (in reference to where all the human waste from Tanjong Bunga and Batu Ferringhi goes...the overflow goes into the ocean untreated in some stretches of the North Coast, we just can’t be sure which stretch!)

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore, There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but Nature more.~ George Gordon, Lord Byron from 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage' ~

Look deep into nature,
and then you will understand everything better.
~ Albert Einstein ~

Botanic Garden Arches Help!

Arches in the Penang Botanic Gardens in Min Of Tourism Website
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2010 11:59:31 +0800
From: Penang Heritage Trust (PHT)
To:



The Ministry is running a survey on whether the ARCHES SHOULD BE RETAINED.

Please participate in the survey. Details of the website are as below.

Please send urgent message out to all your friends to ask them to vote and please stress that the box / answer they should tick should be the NO box

Enclosed picture of the arches.

The website is http://www.motour.gov.my/en.html

The survey is right on the main page.

They are going to use the survey as the reason to keep or not to keep.