GEORGE TOWN: The Penang Island City Council's early publicity exercise for Penang's draft local plan is defective, Parti Rakyat Malaysia said today.
Penang PRM vice-chairman Ravinder Singh said the plan did not comply with Section 12A(a) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1976, which requires the city council to give publicity to what it proposes to include in the plan.
He said it was necessary for city council to disclose its general policy on development and land and building use for the period up to 2035, and its vision of development on the island, for the public to scrutinise and give feedback under the early publicity exercise.
The Penang Structure Plan 2020 was gazetted on June 28, 2007, and the Penang Structure Plan 2030 on Oct 24, 2019.
The law requires that a local plan be prepared as soon as practicable after that.
"Nothing was done for more than 16 years, and now the rush to bulldoze and prepare it.
"This is the first local plan for Penang and it should be done meticulously… not in a 'kelam kabut' (chaotic) manner and certainly not rushed through.
"The way the early publicity exercise is being carried out is not right and also very, very unfair to Penang islanders."
Firstly, he said, it was timed from Jan 23 to Feb 29, running across Thaipusam and Chinese New Year.
Secondly, he said, Section 12A(a) of the act did not fix a time frame for public participation.
"Thirdly, and importantly, the requirement of Section 12A(a) of the act is not complied with.
"This is a serious omission. The feedback sought is supposed to be on proposed initiatives, on what the city council proposes to include in the plan.
"What are those proposed initiatives and plans, and where can people find them to give feedback?
"The early publicity exercise is for the public to comment on raw ideas thrown at them by the city council on what it proposes to include in the local plan.
"People have to visualise the city council's proposals to give their comments.
"But the city council is doing the opposite. It's giving the public blank sheets of paper and asking them to do the work of town planners."
He said Penang PRM called on the city council to:
lPUT on hold the early publicity exercise;
lPREPARE proper documents (blueprints) outlining its own proposals for the local plan area — every township and kampung on the island — for the public's reference and visualisation of what kind of development is planned by town planners;
lRESTART the early publicity exercise and run it for at least six months;
lTOWN planners should meet the public on their home ground;
lSHOW and explain the blueprints to people living in each kampung and town, and record their views and objections to the contents of the blueprints; and
lHAVING obtained feedback on the blueprints, sit at the drawing board to prepare the draft local plan 2035.
The last draft local plan was completed in 2007 under the then Barisan Nasional administration.
However, before it could be gazetted, Pakatan Harapan took over the state's administration in 2008.
PH presented its first draft local plan for public display in 2022, which elicited criticism and negative feedback.
The draft local plan was subsequently redrawn.
