I had made a report to the ACA, the Bernama report below essentially tells the story.
PENANG, Nov 27 (Bernama)
The Tanjong Division Gerakan Youth today lodged a report with the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) over what it claimed to be the Penang government's hasty approval of a high-rise project in the World Heritage Site buffer zone in George Town without the knowledge of Unesco's World Heritage Committee.
Its head, H'ng Khoon Leng, in his written report to the Penang ACA director Latifah Md Yatim, sought an investigation into whether there had been abuse of authority by certain quarters in the approval of the 23-storey condominium project of the Low Yat Group just days before George Town was declared a World Heritage Site, along with Melaka, in July.
He also expressed regret that Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng had indicated as reported according to his statement Wednesday that he was prepared to forgo three hotel projects approved earlier for the buffer zone if the condominium project, to be developed by Bintang Holdings, had to be cancelled.
H'ng said Lim said that "if the condominium project is not allowed, then all the other three projects should not be allowed either. It is all or nothing". (reported by NST, Pg 12 in a telephone interview with LGE)
The other three projects are the Rice Miller Boutique Hotel, the Boustead Royale Bintang Hotel and an extension of the Eastern & Oriental Hotel, all of which were approved by the state planning committee early last year.
The Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry has given the Penang government one month from Nov 24 to review the projects in the George Town buffer zone in a move to prevent Unesco’s withdrawal of the city’s World Heritage Site status.
Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal had said that he had asked the state government to do several things in the one month, including asking the contractors to ensure that the construction did not have any adverse impact on the site.
A buffer zone of a World Heritage Site is an area around the site which has been identified to protect the visual setting of the site. Development proposals within the buffer zone will be considered for their impact upon the site.
The award of the World Heritage Site status to George Town and Melaka is inter-linked such that any action in either city which results in the withdrawal of the status would automatically affect the other as well.-- BERNAMA
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Star, Friday November 28, 2008
Malacca seeks for a ‘divorce’
M’cca may ‘divorce’ Georgetown over heritage status
KUALA LUMPUR: Malacca wants to be divorced from George Town if the Penang government continues to allow the building of four high-rise hotels in its heritage zones.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam said the projects’ constructions in Penang’s heritage core and buffer zones would violate guidelines set by the World Heritage Committee.
“If Penang wants to go ahead with the project, then we will ask to be divorced from George Town. We will ask Unesco if it is possible for Malacca to be awarded the status on our own merit,” he told reporters after opening the National History seminar at Universiti Malaya here yesterday.
He said it would not be fair for Malacca to lose its World Heritage status due to the Penang government’s stubbornness over the construction of the four hotels.
He said he did not understand why Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng could not reverse the decision on the building of the hotels, even after knowing that their construction could adversely affect the city’s World Heritage status.
At the centre of the controversy are the AGB’s Rice Miller boutique hotel in Weld Quay and the Boustead Royale Bintang Hotel, both sited in the heritage core zone, and the E&O Hotel and Low Yat Group Hotel, which are planned in the buffer zone.
Penang and Malacca were awarded the status together by Unesco in July.
Unesco regional adviser for the Asia-Pacific Dr Richard Engelhardt recently confirmed that any adverse effect on one of the cities would automatically affect the other.
Their fate is interlinked because they had obtained their status as heritage sites on July 7 under a joint bid.
Mohd Ali said that when Malacca had wanted to build the 110m high Taming Sari project within the heritage buffer zone, it had sought approval from not only the state heritage committee but also the Ministry of Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage.
The state government, he said, had also moved the tower from the original site to allow the excavation and conservation works on the Bastion Middlesburgh and the Fortaleza D’Malacca, even before it was awarded the status by Unesco.
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