Rush to build in Penang! High-density projects sprouting without gazetted local plan

By Rebecca Duckett

Local residents are stakeholders in the development of Penang. Yet Penang Island has no gazetted local plan.

Development projects receive approval without transparency or accountability despite the public’s right to engage in future plans within their own neighbourhoods.

Transparency and public participation, as required in any local plan, is crucial to the democratic process to ensure transparency and accountability by the authorities.

Public engagement is a stipulated requirement in the Town and Country Planning Act 1976. Without this, the state and authorities are not following the law.

Yet, currently all over Penang, frantic construction, hoardings, demolitions and earthworks are taking place on slopes and beachfront land. Huge mega-projects are popping up.

All these affect the long-term quality of life for residents across Penang. Why?

Direct disruption hits communities

Many residents in the Tanjung Bungah and Batu Ferringhi areas feel ‘hijacked’. They are the last to know why this rush of construction has suddenly begun in their neighbourhoods and the wider surrounding area.

The Kobay development (two blocks of 42-storey apartments) in front of the floating mosque is one example. The main road is randomly reduced to one lane, causing traffic jams and compromising bus services and emergency services. This project will disrupt the area for several years to come.

There has been no information, no engagement, no apology.

The Boon Siew Villa development, at the time of writing, still has no official signage. No approval permit number, developer name or relevant authorities are displayed. Despite this, the house is demolished and hoardings are up. Earthworks and construction inside the site are all visible under the hoarding.

There is no road setback, already a ‘pinch’ point on this main road. Isn’t a compulsory 50-feet road setback a requirement for approval?

Penang Property Talk reported last October that the luxury condominium development is “Ascott Residences”, 43 storeys with 99 units. It is freehold. In May, the website reported the demolition of the villa, stating that “its removal marks yet another chapter in the island’s struggle to balance progress with preservation”. The completion date is January 2028.

With no local plan or public engagement, construction continues on this small piece of beachfront land next to a public beach. No signage is displayed. Is this an illegal construction site?

High density on fragile beachfront land?

Historically, construction on beachfront land in Batu Ferringhi was set at a limited height gradient from the high-tide mark. This was to ensure the long-term beauty of Penang’s coastline and to maintain views out to the sea.

This project directly goes against the wisdom of that guideline. The limited height guideline should stay in place for all beachfront developments.

On what grounds has approval for this project been given? Why is the state allowing developers to damage Penang’s fragile coastline?

The obvious rush to build these two projects feels uncomfortably like a combined effort by the state, the Penang Island City Council and developers to ensure inclusion, by force, in the local plan before it is gazetted.

Is the change in alignment of the “North Coast Paired Road (NCPR)” also the reason to rush construction now, before potential buyers are fully aware of the highway?

Would anyone in the local authorities care to comment on this please?

RM2.9bn for 10km of road? For what?

Adding to the disruption between Tanjung Bungah and Batu Ferringhi is the NCPR, with its new alignment, approved by the Penang government in February 2025. The total length is 10.6km.

A report in February said the project will begin in 2026. Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (CZC) will take five years to complete the project.

Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow was reported as saying that “the coastal section will be about 2.2km, while 70% of the remaining road will go through the hills”.

The coastal section is “along the seafront of the Floating Mosque in Tanjung Bungah to connect to Shamrock before connecting to Batu Ferringhi”.

CZC is waiting for the approval of the environmental assessment report for the coastal section.

The chief minister said the assessment for the main road was approved previously. He said it will take six months for the detailed design to be finalised.

The project will apparently be financed through a land swap deal and offset through future development projects with CZC.

This will totally destroy all access to the popular Shamrock beach, taking yet another beach away from the public realm.

Also note that Shamrock and Bukit Ria residents have switchback roads to reach their homes.

In the new coastal alignment, the first 400m of the highway from Shamrock Beach, at sea level, will have to climb a minimum of 60m above sea level. It turns right to go above and behind the Chinese temple to continue even higher, on its route to Batu Ferringhi. This means it will have to climb at a gradient 15% – more than double the maximum gradients of both, a dual carriageway (4%) and a single carriageway (6%).

Cost, safety and destruction

When you enlarge the photo of the NCPR plan in the news report, it is vague. The route appears to run along jungle hillsides very close to established residential areas, cutting into apartment blocks and over residential houses.

This is causing confusion and worry among local residents. They are questioning hill-slope safety, water run-off, environmental damage and the impact on the structure of their current residences. They are also concerned about pollution and the impact of liveability during construction and after the road is complete.

The road project will take out an 8.4km swathe of pristine jungle and biodiversity on the fragile geology of Penang’s slopes.

Batu Ferringhi is no longer a shining tourism destination. The best hotels have lost their beaches from erosion. This is arguably a result of reclamation developments further along the coastline, changing the way currents move against the coast. The destruction of the best beaches in Penang is shameful. Batu Ferringhi, the faded pearl, is in dire need of a clean-up and makeover.

Why is the NCPR so expensive and destructive? What exactly is Penang swapping with CZC that amounts to RM2.9bn? How does the state justify the cost per kilometre?

Other alternative road plans that hug the existing road along the coast have been suggested. Various options for public transport, at much lower cost and less environmental impact, have also been proposed.

Since the NCPR plan was first released, new developments have been planned and constructed in areas on the coastal side of the NCPR. The landscape has changed.

There has to be public consultation over the viability of the NCPR road.

The new coastal alignment proves that an alternative coastal road is viable and should be considered as an alternative route.

Fragility of Penang’s hill slopes

The area around Tanjung Bungah has been identified as one of the high risk-locations for landslides since the last five years, said a landslide and disaster management expert [Prof Habibah Lateh].

Habibah…said generally the slope materials in Penang are quite different from other places in Malaysia as they are composed of silt rocks mixed with boulders.

“In some parts of the area in Tanjung Bungah, its granite rocks have experienced a high degree of erosion and turned into silty sand that can easily cause landslides,” she said… – Malay Mail, 26 October 2017.

This description applies to all Penang’s hill-slope geology.

We should remember these incidents:

17 October 2018: Bukit Kukus landslide – nine workers were killed, with one person missing and never found. The Penang Department of Occupational Safety and Health found negligence to be the cause.

21 October 2017: Tanjung Bungah landslide – This killed 10 migrant workers and one Malaysian worker on a construction site. A commission of inquiry found that “human negligence was identified as the main factor behind the landslide”.

Six years ago, a slope separating Lost Paradise Resort and Jalan Batu Ferringhi (George Town-bound) gave way while work was going on to build a retaining wall. The earth buried four workers from Myanmar alive. Unauthorised earthworks was the cause.

What value is being placed on human lives by developers and the state, if these kinds of landslides are allowed to happen in plain sight?

How much trust do we have in the state, our developers and contractors who are supposed to enforce and follow all the rules and regulations? They should ensure full disclosure and safety of all developments.

MBI connection adds to distrust

The public should also be very concerned about the alleged, convoluted relationship between MBI International Group – an alleged Ponzi scheme – and the state of Penang.

An excerpt from a CNA report dated 9 June:

Senior government officials told CNA that police are also working on the theory that large amounts of money collected were salted away into the island’s property development sector under a variety of allegedly doubtful business transactions, particularly advances to real estate developers struggling to obtain financing from the banking sector.

What’s more, investigators are also pursuing leads that monies raised by MBI allegedly helped finance purchases of state government land for large development projects, ventures that have been key to Penang’s robust economic growth over the last decade.

One project that is of interest to investigators is the proposed development on reclaimed land near an island known as Pulau Jerejak located off the coast of Penang.

The report also noted:

… investigators from the Anti-Money Laundering Division of the Malaysian police have detained 17 Malaysians, including several high-profile real estate magnates from Penang, under a crackdown operation codenamed Op Northern Star.

Surely this alleged connection between MBI and Penang state is enough to call for a moratorium on all developments in Penang until such time as this investigation into MBI is complete?

Can residents contribute and object to local development?

In Penang, there is no requirement for developers to directly notify neighbours before construction. Neighbours and residents have to do all the work of complaint and objection. A complaint has to be made to the local authority. If not resolved, it is up to the residents to pursue civil action.

This is wrong and goes against the basic human right to democratic decision-making. It is against the requirement by the Town and Country Act 1976. It also goes against the structure and local plans’ stipulation to engage public feedback for the greater welfare and benefit of Penang residents.

It is time for this to change, all over Malaysia. The public should demand this change. There has to be public consultation.

Can the state and developers rebuild trust?

Penang is fast becoming untrustworthy in terms of a place to invest in for life. Wealthier people can move elsewhere. But the less fortunate have little option but to deal with the attacks on their quality of life.

Will the state government, the Penang Island City Council and developers indemnify surrounding residents and properties affected by the construction of mega-developments and highways against all the risks of damage, environmental instability, devaluation and health issues?

This would be one step closer to ensure the accountability of the state, the city council and developers to build safe, best quality development for the future. Crucially, it would help rebuild trust.

There has to be moratorium and halt on all the island development now. Release the local plan with full details (specific plans, environmental impact assessments, all related documents required as part of the public record) and engage transparently with all the people of Penang.

There has to be public consultation.

Rebecca Duckett is a concerned resident of Penang.

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