THREE days after unveiling a multi-million ringgit upgrade at one of the island's famed landmarks – the Penang Esplanade – the lower walkway of its seawall is now temporarily closed.
The high tide phenomenon which is nothing new to Penang or that specific location is said to be the cause for the closure.
The Penang Island City Council was efficient on its Facebook post in announcing that an enforcement team had to bar the public from entering the lower walkway after the high tide caused the area to overflow.
"The public is advised not to use the lower walkway at the Esplanade during high tide for their own safety," the council said.
Surely Mother Nature did not expect such poor planning and engineering ineptitude for the RM13 million project which was ironically launched, on Friday, May 13?
Did no one foresee the waves coming down to crash onto the much-ballyhooed Esplanade walk launch party last week?
The Esplanade upgrade, which took six years to complete, was touted as a project meant to "wow" Penang residents and visitors with its "sweeping vista" of the Penang seafront.
Visitors to the promenade in the morning seemed to not have a care in the world as they took their young ones and elderly family members for a breath of fresh air and to enjoy the view.
Hours later, Penang residents were alerted to yet another "banjir" (flood) scene, and this time not on the banks of the Sungai Pinang, but the much-publicised Esplanade walkaway.
The high tide phenomenon is nothing new to Penang. The Penang Civil Defence Force has, in past years, identified up to 10 areas at risk of flash floods sparked by the unusual high tide phenomenon.
Press photographers and other shutterbugs have over the years captured photos and videos of the high tide phenomenon all over the island, including the very spot where the Esplanade stands.
How much of ratepayers' funds will now be needed for remedial works on the walkaway?
Is the recent nightmare of the flooding of the Bukit Kukus highway on the island about to be replayed where the project's contractor was tasked to rectify the flaws, while all the council had to say was that it was "moving forward in terms of improving the highway and will adopt an open-minded approach"?
"We are willing to meet our critics and the ratepayers," Mayor Datuk Yew Tung Seang, who is also the council president, had told a press conference three months ago when commenting on the Bukit Kukus issue.
Yew was quoted as saying that "those unhappy with what we have done are welcome to come to our offices to discuss. We are willing to discuss for the sake of improving this".
Penang ratepayers have better things to do with their time, than to waste it going to the council offices to "discuss" something which is not their wrong-doing or job in the first place.
The council and their vendors need to simply buck up and get it right the first time, without wasting precious resources and risking the lives and safety of ratepayers and visitors.
