Penang BN chairman says despite what has been stated, 56 hill projects above the permitted height of 76 metres were approved since 2008.
He said the state government had denied approving projects above 76 metres following the Tanjung Bungah landslide but a state assembly reply in 2015 has revealed the opposite.
Teng said state executive councillor Chow Kon Yeow revealed 56 projects above this height were approved by the Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) and Penang Island City Council (MBPP) since 2008. Penang Island was given city status in 2015.
Teng also countered an argument by the Penang government that the Department of Environment (DoE) did not request for an environment impact assessment (EIA) for the Tanjung Bungah project where 11 workers were killed in a landslide on Saturday.
The Penang government recently said local governments had full authority to approve any projects deemed fit. It said it would have complied with the DoE if the department had requested for an EIA.
Teng said an EIA was only required for housing projects measuring more than 50ha (or 123 acres) in land size.
“Is the Tanjung Bungah landslide development area more than 50 hectares?
“To the naked eye, one would tell that it is not. The Penang government is attempting to fool the people again and passing the buck.
“Both the state government and MBPP were also trying to fool the people by justifying that two previous projects had received approval from the DoE,” he said.
The DoE had recently revealed that it “did not support” the planning permission for the Tanjung Bungah affordable housing condo project as it was situated too close to a quarry site.
The MBPP responded by saying the DoE had expressed no objections to a government-linked college campus and a luxury three-storey housing project, located closer to the quarry.
“The guidelines and regulations on environment in Penang have been tightened over the years and the previous two projects were probably approved under different rules and regulations existing at that point in time.
“The Penang government and MBPP should stop fooling the people.
“I refer to the great American president Abraham Lincoln’s famous quote: ‘You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time but you cannot fool all the people all the time.’”
The views expressed in the contents are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of FMT.
lagi info di : Gosip Artis Terkini