This is is how a future tragedy starts.
Every time a landslide kills innocent people or houses are destroyed, the media including the internet ones go for the throat of the developer and the local authority. Amidst all the accusations, finger pointing and excuses we often don't look into the origins of the issue. Here is a good example of a tragedy in the making. Note that over time what one party says now will be different from when something untoward happens. This blog will try to follow up as time goes by on this particular project.
More than 100 residents of Taman Desa Ria in Bayan Lepas here Saturday protested against the proposed construction of houses on a steep gradient in their housing estate. They claimed that the site, originally allocated for a school project that has since been called off, was at high risk of triggering a landslide and was unsuitable for any development.
Taman Desa Ria Residents Association Chairman Yap Seng Thien, 41, said the Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) should review the plan submitted by the developer as it posed a danger to the project itself as well as the people already living there. He told reporters that the developer's proposal to build a school there has been rejected by the MPPP, and now the company intends to build 63 units of houses of various types there. "We had been informed that the site would be retained as a green lung and, therefore, call on the authorities to look into this new proposal," he said.
Balik Pulau Member of Parliament Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahya, who is Parliamentary Secretary to the Finance Ministry, visited the site today and said there was basis for the residents' protest and called on the MPPP to disallow any development there. He said the recent landslide in Hulu Klang, Selangor, should serve as a reminder for everyone and urged local authorities to act appropriately in the matter.-- BERNAMA
**** So the MPPP rejects a school there but it is OK for houses! More 'greedy' decisions being made? Who gains? AND who loses when a landslide kills.
More than 100 residents of Taman Desa Ria in Bayan Lepas here Saturday protested against the proposed construction of houses on a steep gradient in their housing estate. They claimed that the site, originally allocated for a school project that has since been called off, was at high risk of triggering a landslide and was unsuitable for any development.
Taman Desa Ria Residents Association Chairman Yap Seng Thien, 41, said the Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) should review the plan submitted by the developer as it posed a danger to the project itself as well as the people already living there. He told reporters that the developer's proposal to build a school there has been rejected by the MPPP, and now the company intends to build 63 units of houses of various types there. "We had been informed that the site would be retained as a green lung and, therefore, call on the authorities to look into this new proposal," he said.
Balik Pulau Member of Parliament Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahya, who is Parliamentary Secretary to the Finance Ministry, visited the site today and said there was basis for the residents' protest and called on the MPPP to disallow any development there. He said the recent landslide in Hulu Klang, Selangor, should serve as a reminder for everyone and urged local authorities to act appropriately in the matter.-- BERNAMA
**** So the MPPP rejects a school there but it is OK for houses! More 'greedy' decisions being made? Who gains? AND who loses when a landslide kills.
posted by The Malaysian. at 6/17/2006 07:55:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home