09 August 2012 | last updated at 01:02AM

'Council not independent'

By LOOI SUE-CHERN | news@nst.com.my 0 comments

SPECIAL PROJECTS ISSUE: Former Penang town planner claims local authority too eager to please state govt

Former Penang Island Municipal Council Town and Country Planning Department acting director Khoo Boo Soon showing the island's planning guidelines. Pic by Nur Izzati Mohamad

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GEORGE TOWN: AN outspoken former Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) town planner has voiced his frustration again at the council by claiming that his former employer has lost its independence.

Khoo Boo Soon, who was acting director of the MPPP's town and country planning department from December 2010 until March last year, said it appeared that the council was being dictated to by the DAP-led state government.

"In my view and based on recent reports, it seems that whenever the state government says something, the council will be announcing its support for it," he said here yesterday.

Last Friday, Khoo had hit out at the MPPP for using the "special project" status under the Penang Island Structure Plan 2020 and the 1996 Development Control and Planning Master Plan as "prerequisites" to give planning permission for projects on land above 76m.

He revealed that under the Town and Country Planning Act 1976, the local planning authority could not approve a planning approval if the project violated any provisions under the development plan, which prohibited projects on land above 76m and slopes over 25 degrees.

He was quoted as saying that if the council had approved any such projects between June 2007 and March 2008, and from March 2008 onwards, it should revoke the planning approvals in the interest of the people.

Khoo's statements were not taken well by the council. Its president, Datuk Patahiyah Ismail, on Sunday said Khoo was also responsible for his role in the council. She said the revocation of planning approvals would expose the MPPP to huge compensation claims.

In response, Khoo said Patahiyah had ignored the facts that he laid out, and instead, chose to give the impression that the MPPP's hands were tied in relation to special projects.

"On compensating developers, it can be done only if the revocation involves a project that has started. If the planning approvals are revoked when no work has started, what is there to compensate?"

Khoo also refuted Patahiyah's claims that he had recommended approval for a special project above 76m in Teluk Kumbar, challenging her to reveal its name.