Some 350 residents living in six condominiums and houses along Persiaran Bayan Indah in Bayan Lepas want the seafront in the Bayan Bay area to be spared of any future land reclamation projects.
Bayan Bay Residents’ Action Committee chairperson Sharifah Hamidah said the residents were not against development but were more concerned about the quality of life.
“We want people to have access to the seafront from Putra Marine Resort until Queensbay Mall and we hope that it will be spared of any reclamation projects,” she told a press conference at the Gold Coast Resort lobby.
During the press conference, the group of residents staged a peaceful protest.
Sharifah, a retired headmistress, said the residents decided to hold the press conference following information they received that there would be some reclamation efforts in the area by a developer.
She added that in July, the residents wrote to the developer to object any land reclamation there.
“However, we didn’t receive any reply from the developer,” she said.
Sharifah said the residents had met Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and Pantai Jerejak assemblyman Sim Tze Tzin in August to express their concern.
She said currently there are six condominium projects and residences — Putra Marine Resort, Gold Coast Resort, Bay Garden, Bay Star, Putra Place Condominiums and Villa Emas — comprising a total of 1,871 residential units in Bayan Bay.
“The population in the area is now more than 10,000 excluding the commercial lots. Soon, there will be 352 more condominium units coming up.
“If more development takes place, there will be massive traffic congestion in the area,” she said, adding that the residents were also concerned about the environmental damage there.
When contacted, Sim said the state government was forced into a negotiation with the developer, Boustead Holdings, after it was required to scale down the height of the high-rise Royal Bintang Hotel which was approved to be built in the Unesco World Heritage zone under the previous state government.
“The developer was requested to reduce the height to no more than 18m (five floors from its original 13) in accordance to the new guidelines.
“The state has to negotiate a settlement with the developer, failing which the state risks facing law suits amounting to hundreds of millions of ringgit,” he said.
Sim also urged Boustead to put the people’s interest and the state’s hard earned heritage status first before its financial profits.
He said it was unreasonable of corporate companies to threaten to sue the state government for a large sum of money simply for adhering to Unesco guidelines.
He expressed hope that Lim would stand firm and not succumb to the pressure from the developer. - By Winnie Yeoh (The Star)
17 comments
FYI, Putra Marine, Gold Coast, Baystar and Bay Garden are all built on the reclaimed land. How come last time people allow your land to be developed but now you opposed other developer to build. All this are human nature 'selfishness'. Don't tell the world you are so environment concern, be real. It is more on property value will dip south temporarily.
Dear Sharifah, sorry to tell you that, whether you like it or not, the developer , Boustead Holdings will go ahead with reclamation and development at this area.
Be it Barisan Nasional or Pakatan.. no one could stop development around Bayan Indah.
Why no one oppose when more commercial units are coming up around these area.. look at newly launched Summerston. With new commercial units by summerston... traffic at this area will absolutely conngested like Relau !!!
What a timely news. I was seriuosly considering Baystar a few months back but was told about Boustead acquiring a piece of land (existing carpark) from CP. Now with this news, it further confirmed the risk on those value of the properties stated above.
Value will down? I doubt. Developer will build more expensive project and the price surely higher than the existing 6 condo. Persiaran bayan baru resident will benefit the surge of property appreciation. Look at gurney park, block by paragon. Is the value down? No, is up to the sky. Look at condo by klcc, are the value of old condo block by new super condo down? No, is up! Cause new properties are much more expensive. Congested like relau? I would prefer to say congested like gurney? Folks at bayan bar don't worry, we have to make sure boustead develop high end and luxury project and also demolish or reallocate the mushroom stall or illegal stall. These will surely benefit persiaran bayan baru resident.
Totally agree with Gene!
Please don't get me wrong. What I tried to mean is the present value. Put yourself in the position of a buyer, if someone offer you to a unit on level 3 @RM1.25mil (Baystar), will you still consider that a good buy knowing the risk that down the road your sea view may not be there anymore? I, for one, will not consider it.
But of course, I do agree that for long term, the value will surely appreciate given the scarcity of land in Penang island. So my point is that for those owners that are asking for too high a price NOW, the chances of sealing a deal may be lower compare to without the news.
anyway, it's just my 2 sen opinion. Cheers!!
Don't know if they'll just link Jerajak with Penang, as the Sea in Front is So Near,
Might as well do a reclamation for Gurney Drive, it's more Congested There, and i'm not here to rant,
but 100 Acres of Land in exchange for 5 levels of Hotel (Due to the Heritage Status of Penang)???? I'm really disappointed... Might as well sell "Jerejak" to them.
BTW, how long will it need for the FRONT reclamation take?? 5 Years before doing any constructions??? or 10 Years before any construction?? Anyone know the timeline for them to reclaim that HUGE 100Acres of Land?
Thanks
just look at IJM'S LIGHT development..they build immediately after reclaimation..in fact it looks like they build as they reclaim..sounds frightening
Hi ele,
There is actually nothing to be afraid of. With new technology and better understanding of reclamation (especially on shallow water), we can now reclaim fast and safe.
Penang is a small island, reclamation is unavoidable. Good thing about reclaim is that the "title" belongs to Penang state (rather than the usual "Lim trustee" or the "Choong trustee" etc). So in other words, it belongs to the people of Penang.
When the private trustees develop/sell a piece of land for development, money goes into family members who would then use the money to buy Bentleys and houses in bulk (to keep pushing up the price). And depends on which political party that is running Penang, they will also use this money to lobby for contracts...:)
But when the state grants reclaim rights, putting corruption aside (depending on who runs the state..:)), the proceeds would go back into supporting local developments (low cost house, bridge, roads etc) that would benefit everyone in general.
Having said that, it doesn't mean we should start reclaiming like there's no tomorrow. A balance will always enhance sustainability.
Agree with RBS, those are selfish resident.
I support the reclaimed land, best case if can reclaimed the land and connect to Pulau Jerejak.
We need more luxury houses and properties to make the island looks better. So reclaimed more land.
Best is reclaim until mainland... don't need to build bridges, save money.
My point is... no value if over supply, beside losing the identity of the island.
Funnee this actually came out from you... :P
Penang going to saturate soon; for start its ain't a Singapore as country, it is one of few states; worst still an Island. You may disagree. I read people asking about new road development and my concern was road maintenance itself pretty sucks. I feel there is there no funding for roads development but there is lots of funding for construction from private investors. Which is a clear sign of a Island design flaw. As an islander I feel it going to hurt Penang people (our kids) more in future as we seeing our children no longer afford to play games that we used to play. All I am saying these development ain't balance with country progress.
Don't worry... all these so called big developers are very much depending on 'sell then build' concept. All these big plans will never kick off if there's no market demands; particularly Seri Tanjung Phase II, Ivory, Boustead... unless Penang economy really booming.
The government will never want to slow down the property industry... the 5% RPGT increase is a JOKE!
This is a fair game, whoever get the approval go ahead and build and reclaimed. Be realistic no body cares whether you object or not. Big company just want make good money and make sure revenue up and to those resident there please "Shut Up".