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CALL FOR CANCELATION: Residents want to save the open-air car park near wet market on which the commercial lot is to be built
GEORGE TOWN: RESIDENTS at the affluent Pulau Tikus suburb here have called for the state government to scrap plans for a 27-storey building for a commercial development project in the area.
Many of them are up in arms with the local authority for approving it as they did not want such a massive project to be built on the open-air car park in Jalan Moulmein.
They are furious as the tall building would have a detrimental impact on the surroundings. The residents are also questioning how approval could have been given for a commercial block to be built in a residential area.
They also claimed that they were not consulted on the matter.
Upon completion, the new site is supposed to have 290 car park bays of which only 90 would be made available for the public.
The present car park caters to 150 vehicles.
Residents want Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to intervene.
Tan Chun Kuan, 32, said the residents wanted the open-air car park to remain, as it was located next to the busy Pulau Tikus wet market.
"We do not want the 27-storey commercial development project in the middle of our neighbourhood. I also cannot understand why the local authority did not send us letters to ask for our feedback before approving the project.
"The traffic congestion is set to worsen when the project is completed," Tan said.
Another resident Khoo Thean Huat, 66, lamented that the livelihood of stall traders in the wet market would also be affected due to a drastic drop in public parking space.
"None of us were given an opportunity to object against the project. I hope the state government can consider our grievances and cancel the project," Khoo said.
Barisan Nasional Pulau Tikus coordinator Rowena Yam and Gerakan legal bureau chief Baljit Singh have pledged to help the disgruntled residents by drafting a letter to Lim.
"We will come out with the letter duly signed by the residents," Yam said.
She also said DAP Pulau Tikus assemblyman Koay Teng Hai, who previously held a dialogue with residents in May, had yet to get back to them.
It was reported Koay said he would convey the complaints to the chief minister.
The residents had raised questions such as whether the project complied with the height restrictions and where would the public park their vehicles when the current open-air car park closes for construction.
They claimed that there was a height restriction of six storeys in the residential area, while Koay said there was no such restriction, since the plot of land was zoned as commercial.
Acting state development planning director Roslan Ramly said notices to voice objections had been issued on June 7 last year for a hearing which took place on July 12 last year
Roslan said residents living within 20m of the proposed project had the right to object.
He said the developer was compelled to provide a car park for the public at the complex's basement, which prompted one of those present to say that it was not a public car park as the developer had not handed it over to the government.
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