Juggling between heritage and development

The euphoria over George Town appearing on the Unesco world heritage listing is rapidly turning out to be an Achilles heel for the Pakatan Rakyat Penang government.

And Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng is in a dilemma.

Like a circus performer, he has to perform a balancing act by carrying out sustainable socio-economic development on one side while preserving, protecting and promoting George Town's heritage value for the world.

The state government undoubtedly needs to inject life back into George Town, practically a ghost city by night, but not at the expense of forsaking its heritage.

From now on, caution is the key word in approving projects in the heritage zone covering 259.42ha where the core area encompasses Lorong Love, Pengkalan Weld, Lebuh Pantai, Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling, Jalan Tun Sheh Barakbah, Lebuh Light, Lebuh Bishop, Lebuh Gereja, Lebuh China, Lebuh Pasar, Lebuh Chulia, Lebuh Armenian and Lebuh Acheh.

The buffer zone is the vicinity between the core area and Komtar.

Penang has more than 12,000 pre-war premises mainly of Anglo-Indian architecture, the largest number in the country.

Risks losing its heritage status

If the DAP-led state government ever thought it was easy to manage a sustainable heritage based on socio-economic and human development in George Town, it was given a rude shock when it came under heavy fire for approving four high-rise hotel projects.

The projects to build the hotels were approved based on existing state building guidelines on June 26, barely 10 days before George Town was given the heritage accreditation on July 7.

Visiting Unesco regional director for Asia Pacific Richard Engelhardt warned the state that George Town was at risk of losing its heritage accolade due to approvals given to non-heritage like projects between the time an updated dossier was submitted on Aug 23, 2007 until July 7 this year.

Enclosed with the dossier, was a set of new guidelines - a comprehensive heritage management plan - which was part of state compliance to Unesco’s stringent heritage conservation and preservation rules.

Engelhardt and local heritage lovers questioned the state government's sincerity on why it did not apply the stringent heritage guidelines, which emphasises on a maximum height of 18m or roughly five-storeys for new buildings in heritage zones, since it had submitted the dossier last year.

"Why would you apply for the status if there was no intention of following the guidelines?" they asked.

The Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) was aware of this but yet approved the four projects arguing that "legally, the council had to adhere to existing regulations until the new rules were enforced."

State executive councillor Chow Kon Yeow, who is in charge of local government, added that the local authorities cannot reject the project proposals, which were already given planning permission by the previous administration, based on non-existing heritage rules.

Indeed, the state authorities run the risk of facing hefty legal suits for alleged violation of property ownership rights enshrined under the Federal Constitution.

The four hotels are the the Asia Global Business's Rice Miller boutique hotel and Boustead Royale hotel projects, both eight to 10-storey or 51.7m high buildings in the Weld Quay heritage core zone, and the 17-storey E&O Hotel extension in Lebuh Farquhar and the RM500 million Bintang Holdings' 23-storey hotel in Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah in the buffer zone, both of which will be 84.4m high

The state was caught in a conundrum since the new government only knew about those guidelines only after George Town received its Unesco status.

It cannot cancel the approvals now or otherwise it will end up spending millions to buy the properties as required by the purchasing orders stipulated under Section 37 of the Town and Country Planning Act.

However, Lim said the state government will consider taking the risk if the federal government was prepared to fund the purchasing orders for the four buildings.

This weekend Lim's request will be passed on to Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Mohd Shafie Apdal when officials from the state town and country planning department attend a meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

But it's unthinkable that the federal government will agree to Lim's suggestion.

The local council is now confident of persuading two developers - Bintang and Asia Global - to mutually agree to reduce the heights of their hotels, especially since it has yet to approve the building plans.

However, it is too late to negotiate on the other two approved projects developed by Boustead Holdings Sdn Bhd and E&O Hotel since construction works are already underway.

'Not a businessman's playground'

Although he warned that the worst-case scenario will be George Town being de-listed, Engelhardt nonetheless hinted that city authorities will be given time to rectify errors and demonstrate its interest and commitment to preserving its heritage.

The last line breathes a lease of hope for the Penang government on keeping George Town's heritage status.

Social activist Anil Netto wants the government to distance itself from the developers and strictly enforce the density and height restrictions since "George Town is now a Unesco heritage zone, not a businessmen's playground."

Lim's government must soon implement a new set of legislation to create a cohesive legal mechanism to protect, conserve and preserve the heritage status.

The legislation among others must provide safeguards to shield and save Penang’s heritage value from any more harm.

At the same time, the state government has to stimulate the city's socio-economic growth by compelling developers and property owners to play by the heritage rules.

It is a tough juggling act for Lim and company, one that has the potential to throw the Pakatan government off balance.

But Lim has to prefect the balancing act, or else the honour of being chief minister of a heritage city will turn into a burden.