Penang city council must get public feedback before new local plan is drafted, says PRM’s Ravinder
GEORGE TOWN, Oct 25 — The Penang Island City Council (MBPP) must ensure there is public participation in the drafting of a new Penang island local plan after the previous draft local plan was dropped, said Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) vice chairman Ravinder Singh.
He said the preparation of the previous draft local plan was not conducted according to the Town and Country Planning Act 1976 as it was drafted without obtaining views from the public affected by the local plan.
He said Section 12A of the act required that information about the preparation of the local plan must be widely given to people living in the areas covered by the plan.
“The views of people in every township, village and kampung must be obtained before the plans are drafted,” he said in a press conference earlier today.
He said Section 13 of the act provides that after the plan was drafted, a second round of publicity must be made to the public for them to air their objections and views.
He said the previous draft Penang Island Local Plan 2030 only conducted four focus group discussions that should not be considered public consultations.
He said the group discussions were held with internal and external technical agencies, state excos, assemblymen and councillors, penghulu and Majlis Pengurusan Komuniti Kampung (MPKK) and certain non-governmental organisations sometime between 2019 and 2020.
“Consultation must be directly with the public at large, not closed door meetings with the government appointed and paid representatives like the ‘ketua kampung’ or city councillors,” he said.
He said state assemblymen in the government cannot give unbiased feedback as their loyalty will be for the state government.
“It is the general public that will be affected by the proposals put in the Local Plan who must be consulted,” he said.
He said the city council has already called a tender to appoint a new consultant for a redo of the local plan.
“We are concerned that the consultant appointed may not carry out the Section 12A consultation properly in order to cut his costs,” he said.
He called on MBPP to ensure that the information to be included in the local plan be displayed to the public in every area corner of the island.
“Exhibitions of plans of proposed development in every area and meetings with the local people must be held in all townships, villages and kampongs as required by law,” he said.
He also called on the public to come forward to submit their views or objections in the initial stage instead of waiting for the draft plan to be completed.
He pointed out that the previous draft local plan was badly done as a total 2,179 objections were filed by unhappy, angry Penangites when it was put on display before the plan was rejected.
“A Local Plan is not about the grand plans that the state has, or the ideas of the consultant, but about the needs of the people,” he said.
