---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Rudhrapathy Vijayavale" <vrpathy.cap@gmail.com>
Date: Aug 3, 2012 3:40 PM
Subject: [PFSteeringCommittee] 'Special Projects' can be revoked for public interest
To: "Penang Forum steering committtee" <PFSteeringCommittee@yahoogroups.com>
From: "Rudhrapathy Vijayavale" <vrpathy.cap@gmail.com>
Date: Aug 3, 2012 3:40 PM
Subject: [PFSteeringCommittee] 'Special Projects' can be revoked for public interest
To: "Penang Forum steering committtee" <PFSteeringCommittee@yahoogroups.com>
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A former senior town planner with the Penang Municipal Councillor has come out to say that the authorities should not use 'special project' status to approve hill slope development, and that the planning permission can be revoked for public interest.
MPPP Town Planning Department former acting director (1993-2010) Khoo Boo Soon (right) said that planning permission obtained by a developer for a project under the Town and Country Planning Act of 1976 (Act 172) is only valid for a year.
Khoo explained that without renewal, a building plan cannot be approved with the local authority having every right under Act 172 to impose further conditions or even reject renewal of the permission.
He stressed that special projects as indicated in the Penang Island Structure Plan 2020 (Plan 2020) and also Pelan Dasar Kawalan Perancangan MPPP 1996 are not meant to be "pre-requisites" to grant planning permission for projects above 76m.
"The term special project must not be used by the state as an escape clause to approve rezoning of hill land areas under the 1960 Land Conservation Act to other category of use because the 2020 Plan has been effective since June 2007," he told a press conference in Penang today.
"The granting planning permission up to commencement of work has to go through various approval processes where the local planning authority is empowered by Act 172 to intervene to the extent of revoking planning permission if it serves public interest," he added.
Projects revoked prior to 2008
Khoo said section 22(4) of the Act states that the local planning authority shall not grant planning permission if the development contravened any provision of the development plan.
Development plan here, he added, refers to the 2020 Plan.
"In my opinion, if MPPP finds that projects that had been approved after March 2008 and between June 2007 until March 2008 that contradict the development plan, then in the name of public interest for the people of Penang, the planning permission should be revoked," he stressed.
Khoo pointed out that the MPPP had done it before, in 2003, when it revoked the plan to build a columbarium in place of the former Shih Tung Primary School in response to outrage from the public.
He was referring to the argument that approvals are given by MPPP because of a project's "special status", saying this leads to confusion among the general public to why certain hill slope projects are still getting the nod.
He added that decision makers from both the current and previous administrations had blamed each other and the MPPP had even revealed a list of projects approved before and after March 2008.
The issue of hill slope development has come into focus following protests from NGO and resident groups who, driven by environmental and safety concerns, want the state government to halt the projects.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has given the assurance that his government would not approve any hill slope development above 76m as long as his administration is in power
MPPP Town Planning Department former acting director (1993-2010) Khoo Boo Soon (right) said that planning permission obtained by a developer for a project under the Town and Country Planning Act of 1976 (Act 172) is only valid for a year.Khoo explained that without renewal, a building plan cannot be approved with the local authority having every right under Act 172 to impose further conditions or even reject renewal of the permission.
He stressed that special projects as indicated in the Penang Island Structure Plan 2020 (Plan 2020) and also Pelan Dasar Kawalan Perancangan MPPP 1996 are not meant to be "pre-requisites" to grant planning permission for projects above 76m.
"The term special project must not be used by the state as an escape clause to approve rezoning of hill land areas under the 1960 Land Conservation Act to other category of use because the 2020 Plan has been effective since June 2007," he told a press conference in Penang today."The granting planning permission up to commencement of work has to go through various approval processes where the local planning authority is empowered by Act 172 to intervene to the extent of revoking planning permission if it serves public interest," he added.
Projects revoked prior to 2008
Khoo said section 22(4) of the Act states that the local planning authority shall not grant planning permission if the development contravened any provision of the development plan.
Development plan here, he added, refers to the 2020 Plan.
"In my opinion, if MPPP finds that projects that had been approved after March 2008 and between June 2007 until March 2008 that contradict the development plan, then in the name of public interest for the people of Penang, the planning permission should be revoked," he stressed.
Khoo pointed out that the MPPP had done it before, in 2003, when it revoked the plan to build a columbarium in place of the former Shih Tung Primary School in response to outrage from the public.
He was referring to the argument that approvals are given by MPPP because of a project's "special status", saying this leads to confusion among the general public to why certain hill slope projects are still getting the nod.He added that decision makers from both the current and previous administrations had blamed each other and the MPPP had even revealed a list of projects approved before and after March 2008.
The issue of hill slope development has come into focus following protests from NGO and resident groups who, driven by environmental and safety concerns, want the state government to halt the projects.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has given the assurance that his government would not approve any hill slope development above 76m as long as his administration is in power
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