Councillor: Views of only selected stakeholders sought
A PENANG municipal councillor said the consultation leading to the imposition of the new density ruling was lopsided as only selected stakeholders such as developers and architects were consulted.
Dr Lim Mah Hui said the council should rightly also consult the public and the community, who were directly affected by the density guidelines.
"I propose that the council organise a public forum on this matter.
"The Penang Forum will be happy to be a co-organiser," he said in his speech at a full council meeting at City Hall.
The Penang Forum is a coalition of public-interest civil society groups.
Dr Lim was commenting on the council's decision in June 2010 to raise the density to enable developers to build 87 units per 0.404ha or 120 units per 0.404ha if the project involved low-cost or low medium-cost units.
Previously, the density was 30 units per 0.404ha.
Former Penang municipal councillor Teh Leong Meng and architect Prof Jimmy Lim had opposed the new density ruling during a public forum called 'Say No to 87 units Per Acre' at a hotel George Town last Wednesday.
Dr Lim, who represents non- governmental organisations, said the purpose of increasing the density was to make housing more affordable to the people but there was no evidence of such results yet.
"On the other hand, it has led to negative social and environmental consequences including more traffic congestions.
"We should explore more effective policies to make housing affordable such as discouraging the building of more high-end property by imposing higher development charges and fees on the developers," he added.
"We can also provide incentives as well as cross-subsidy for the building of affordable housing," he said.
Dr Lim said he was not against higher density in high-rise projects but reiterated that it must not be haphazard and driven by private interest.
He added that it must be guided by proper planning and preceded by adequate social and physical infrastructure.
"The present policy of traffic impact studies on individual project basis has failed and the results are evident everywhere.
"It can only be solved on a holistic basis with integration of land use and transport planning as recommended by the Penang Transport Master Plan," he said.
Dr Lim also questioned the building of commercial suites or SOHO (small office, home office) in Penang.
"Developers are using commercial land to build residential apartments disguised as commercial suites because they are able to build more apartments this way," he said.
He called on the council to provide a map of the areas zoned for 87 units per 0.4ha and for SOHO projects.
-The Star-
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