There is said to be a ‘promising premier lifestyle destination’ to be located on 20 acres of prime land without enough setback and buffer from Lebuhraya Thean Teik on Penang Island. The property is surrounded by 1,300 residential units and 115 units of three-storey shop lots, and flanked at both ends by major anchor tenants.

Is this another ‘smart-growth project’ that promises reduced congestion, clean air, affordable housing, open space protection, and reduced urban-service costs? But there is four areas of major concern that the Penang state government has failed to consider when approving this project.

They are traffic circulation, storm water erosion, land use compatibility and housing stock.

The project site is located along a short stretch of a narrow street without alternative routes provided to divert traffic circulation. Without enough front, side and rear yard setback and a buffer zone, it is a very ambitious project that attempts to put too many people on too little land - 1,300 residential units with thousands of shoppers on a 20 acres of land with a single access road of less than a kilometre.

The project is build on an excavated hill slope with limited space for parking and driving and for entry and exit points. As there are no right-hand turns when exiting from the project site, the project will create enormous traffic problems for Lebuhraya Thean Teik and its surrounding neighborhoods. Channeling all traffic into one intersection without a single traffic light is the best recipe for traffic congestion. Definitely not a best solution for prosperity.

The land is deemed topographically unsuitable for high density residential occupancy and commercial traffic. Disregard for land use compatibility with the surrounding neighborhoods and traffic would make this project a big time failure.

Development is not about just building more high-rises and shopping complexes. It should be about the sustainability of the project itself. The state government should explain how the project could benefit the Air Itam township in terms of providing employment opportunities, reducing commuting pressures, generating local demand for services and supporting industries and generating demand for housing?

Will the project eventually end up as another suburban sprawl due to bad traffic congestion along Lebuhraya Thean Teik? It could also end up as another abandoned or lowly-occupied commercial and residential area. Only a fool without common sense would invest his/her hard-earned money on a project that is destined to fail from the very beginning.

The state government has the obligation to stop this type of development which brings no benefit to the people. The state government should stop all the excavation carried out on the slope as it is a dangerous activity and being done without studying the full impact of the instability problems of the entire hill slope.

Is the state government allowing developers to build in spite of landslide hazards and disregarding the safety of the surrounding neighborhoods? Even if the project might lead to a calamity of catastrophic proportions in the future?

Lim Guan Eng may again blame Koh Tsu Koon for the approval of this project and claim that it is too costly for the state government to stop this project now. This will end up as another example where developer gets his way with no benefit to the environment or the people.

The existence of such a type of project speaks badly about the competency, accountability and transparency of the current state government.