Pace of development worrying

I REFER to "Penang not beholden to developers" (The Star, May 30), in which the Penang Chief Minister denied that the state government was the darling of developers.

To support his denial, the Chief Minister pointed out that more stop-work orders had been issued under the present state government compared with the previous one.

I am not a member of any political party but am one of those affected by the ongoing property developments.

It is not unusual to see a residential house, an apartment block turned into commercial premises, a house turned into trading premises and high-rise condos all in a row under development in Penang.

I am not anti-development, but two wrongs do not make a right under whichever government.

There was a residents' meeting-cum- dialogue with the MPPP on April 23 in Auditorium C on the 5th floor of Komtar.

Some 30 residents attended the meeting chaired jointly by DAP's Chan Kon Yeow and the director of MPPP's Planning Department.

The residents expressed their views pertaining to a proposed development in Tanjung Bungah.

They heard for themselves that a stop work order could be issued as the developer might have infringed a specific regulation brought to the attention of the meeting by the residents.

But in the same breath, the residents were told that some stop-work orders were lifted within 24 hours, once the developer had complied with whatever regulation under which they had been told to stop work.

Perhaps the Chief Minister may find it better to cite the number of projects that had been stopped due to continued infringement of regulations by developers than the number of stop-work orders dished out.

There have been many complaints by many residents on the fast pace of property development in various locations in Penang, where property developers do not adhere to the development guidelines, and thus severely affecting the residents.

These complaints to the MPPP (actually they are calls for help by the residents as they have no one else to turn to) have fallen on deaf ears, and are met with a shrug from the Planning Department and even from the politicians who should seek to be fair to both developers and residents.

I know for certain that for my locality, our appeal to meet the Chief Minister to present our case made no headway.

It is indeed very sad that residents have to try to do the work of the MPPP, but meet with indifference from the very organisation which should work to protect its ratepayers.

PMAI,
George Town

-The Star-

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