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Wed, 10 Feb 2010
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 NEWS WITHOUT BORDERS :: Local News |
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23-storey hotel may jeopardise heritage status, says Teng
GEORGE TOWN (Nov 24, 2008) : The 23-storey (84m) hotel on Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah approved by the state government recently could possibly be the one to jeapordise George Town's Unesco World Heritage status.
Former state executive councilor for local government Datuk Dr Teng Hock Nan said today the state government and local council were aware of the height restrictions in the heritage zone "even back in 2005".
“That's why this project by Tanjong Bintang Holdings, under Low Yat Group, was put on hold by the previous state government and the decision incurred the wrath of Low Yat Group executive chairman Tan Sri Low Yow Chuan,” he said.
Quoting from newspapers clippings from June 2005, in which Low said he had had enough of Penang after the local authorities told him to scale down the project from 24 storeys to eight storeys, Teng said they had to follow the heritage guidelines.
"Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said he was not aware of the guidelines. How could it be when we had to follow the guidelines in 2005?” he asked.
As for why the previous administration approved the other three high rise projects, Teng explained that the E & O Hotel expansion project with a 84m height was approved back in the early 1990s.
“As for the Rice Miller Boutique Hotel and the Boustead Royale Bintang Hotel, both these projects with a 51.7m height, were the same height as the neighbouring Bangunan Syed Putra,” he said.
Furthermore, Dr Teng added that these three projects were made known to Unesco when Prof David Lung, sent by the World Heritage Committee, came to Penang to assess the heritage value of George Town.
“Prof Lung was fully briefed on the three projects so the inscription was made with the Unesco being fully aware of these projects,” he said.
Dr Teng said it is the fourth project, the one by Tanjong Bintang Holdings, that could have affected George Town's Unesco World Heritage status as it was not made known to the Unesco committee and it was approved after the visit by Prof Lung.
Unesco’s regional adviser to Asia-Pacific, Richard Engelhardt, had last week warned that Penang’s heritage status may be affected due to four high-rise projects in the conservation zone.
Three of the projects, E & O Hotel, Boustead and Rice Miller, were approved by the previous state adminsitration while the fourth project by Tanjong Bintang, was approved only 10 days before the Unesco inscription under the new state government.
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Updated: 07:45PM Mon, 24 Nov 2008
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