Written by Regina William.

GEORGE TOWN: A grave error of judgment was made when the entire precinct in the historical George Town enclave was zoned to be listed as a Unesco World Heritage site by the previous state government.

Saying that the zoning actually “embalmed” and not conserved the precinct, Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association (Rehda) Penang deputy chairman Albert Lai said not all the 5,000 premises within the 150-acre site were worth being called “heritage”.

“It does not necessarily mean that we should keep everything, not all are worth keeping. There was clearly poor planning with the listing being bulldozed through,” Lai said.

Representing Rehda, Lai was responding to an article published recently in The Edge Financial Daily on heritage conservation entitled “Holistic development needed for Penang”.

Lai said while Penangites had cause to rejoice and celebrate the listing, its effects were only just being felt on the ground.

“The stakeholders were and are still unhappy with the listing. There is still confusion and uncertainty surrounding the listing, the lack of transparency and public accountability and the high-handed way in which the people involved at the time had bulldozed through the application for listing while ignoring due processes of law for gazetting the affected properties that lie both within and outside the heritage zones.

“There is also unhappiness in the way the previous state government handed over almost the entire inner city of George Town to a small group of people to shape and mould according to their personal views with scant regard for the legal rights of stakeholders,” Lai said.

He also refuted that heritage has become the selling point for properties in Penang.

He said the entire inner city and heritage and buffer zones were off limits and a veritable dead zone as far as development was concerned.

“As far as property developers are concerned development activity on the island is now confined to areas outside the core and buffer heritage zones.

“In essence, it is not development that you are seeing in the inner city of George Town today, but, rather, personal labours of love by the well-heeled who can afford to indulge their passions in the restoration of their properties.

“It is a complete fallacy to suggest that the rising property prices in Penang are due almost exclusively to the listing as property prices in KL and other parts of the country also rose sharply over the same period with similar benefits.

He added that while it was heartening to see and hear of pre-war houses in the inner city heritage being off-loaded at between RM400 and RM800 per sq ft, questions should be asked as to whom these properties were sold to.

“Chances are that many less than pristine pre-war properties are sold to foreign buyers who romanticise dream dwellings in a time warped, low-cost, exotic location.

“We hope these dreams will not turn into nightmares when they discover their heritage homes and business establishments are unsupported by the first-world infrastructure of their home countries to which they are more accustomed,” he said citing electricity, sewage and drainage issues besides other problems which were not looked into.

Lai said infrastructure left much to be desired, having been neglected over the past 50 years and works were now being carried out on a piecemeal basis.

“Unless the federal government is willing to inject more capital into it, I don’t see how the individual grants being given out now will solve these basic issues. I cannot see this going far unless the government can finance and fund these basic essential upgrades which cost up to RM1 billion in investments,” he added.

Lai said it was ironic that a RM5 billion 100-storey building was being considered but hardly anything was forthcoming for conservation efforts. He also criticised the fact that a private group, Think City Sdn Bhd, was now deciding who should be given allocations from the RM20 million allocated by the federal government to Khazanah Nasional Bhd.

Think City Sdn Bhd is a special project vehicle (SPV) established by Khazanah — as a 100% subsidiary — to implement and manage the George Town Grants Programme for conservation and restoration works.

He said the funds should rightfully be channelled to the state and local governments to manage, not only for conservation and restoration, but also for ugrading infrastucture and social amenities within the inner city.

He lambasted suggestions that the conservation efforts ought to be expanded beyond the heritage enclaves.

“Perhaps this should only be confined to buildings of proven historical and cultural signficance and not merely at the whim and fancy of the select few who give no second thought to trampling the rights of the many, all in the name of heritage,” he added.

He said many owners of old properties outside the core and buffer zones were already busy challenging the state government to have their properties delisted or removed from the state list of heritage buildings to be conserved and preserved.

He said these owners felt that their buildings had been arbitrarily designated and listed at the behest of certain individuals sanctioned by the previous state government in a covert manner without going through the due process of law to gazette these properties. He said in some cases the basis on which some of the properties were designated and listed as heritage were flawed as the buildings had no historical value.

“The people of Penang are still at a loss as to the benefits to be derived from the much hyped heritage listing. While it is pleasing to see some stately old buildings being rehabilitated, what about the displaced people and businesses which used to be the life and soul of these buildings?

“What will happen to our much touted living heritage and cultural diversity once the traditional businesses and inner city communities are replaced almost overnight by foreigners and boutique business establishments?

“Surely the objectives of heritage conservation cannot merely be confined to promoting tourism and the sale of inner city properties to foreign buyers. This was not the impression given to the Penang people when the government went about the listing.

“Whatever happened to the noble objectives of re-establishing a vibrant inner city community, rehabilitating premises and repopulating the city?,” Lai asked. Lai called for a viable management blueprint involving the people of Penang to be laid down.

“It is about introducing modern amenities, bringing about better living conditions which have been neglected since independence and caring for the well-being of our city dwellers and their livelihood.

“This is what holistic development is all about,” he added.

** Republished with permission. This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, November 8, 2010.

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