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Where is the oversight for hill slope development in Penang?

It is all too simple to sit back and criticise the latest tragedy that struck Tanjung Bungah, Penang.

A massive slope failure happened in an active construction site that resulted in the death of at least seven construction workers.

Instead of deflecting blame and pointing fingers or sweeping evidence under the carpet, the Penang government can do better going forward by formulating more stringent safety guidelines for land development, especially on the island.

Almost 40 percent of land in Penang is classified as Class III or above. This classification means that the terrain is sloping more than 25 degrees measured from the horizontal plane.

Given that most of the underdeveloped land on the island are under this classification, it is all the more important for the Penang government to address this issue and introduce guidelines in order to promote more sustainable land development in future.

Hong Kong, in the 70's, also experienced a slew of fatal landslides that prompted the formation of the Geotechnical Engineering Office (GEO) in 1977 to oversee slope safety in land development.

If you go to Hong Kong today, you can see the many highrise towers safely built on steep slopes of up to 30 degrees, a testament to the 40 years of strict slope safety enforcement by the Geotechnical Engineering Office of the Hong Kong Civil Engineering and Development Department.

In Perak, any development involving terrain that is Class III or above must seek permission from the Jawatankuasa Teknikal Tanah Tinggi Dan Cerun (JTTTC) under the state planning department.

Formed in 2010, this committee is chaired by the exco in charge of local councils together with 12 other members comprising heads of technical departments like the Department of Irrigation and Drainage, Department of Environment, Minerals and Geoscience Department Malaysia, Forestry Department and etc.

Without the explicit consent of all the technical departments, no hill developments can be approved at the local council level.

Land development on hillslopes can be a very sensitive issue.

Hence it is important to have a dedicated oversight committee at the state level, like the one set up in Perak, to monitor and approve all hillslope developments deemed to be a medium or high risk.

While I assume that the Penang government may have some of the best guidelines in place for hillslope development, I highly doubt there is an adequate oversight, especially at the state planning level, giving rise to wanton approvals, higher plot ratios and lower permeable area requirements for land development.

The scarcity of land on the Penang island also means unscrupulous developers will try to squeeze as many units as possible on the land they are developing to maximise profit.

This is detrimental to the environment, drainage system, traffic and also taxing on the existing urban neighbourhood.

Slope safety does not end after the project is completed. There are maintenance and inspection costs associated with slopes even after the completion and handover of the project by the developer.

If the job is done shoddily, there may be many hidden rectification costs borne either by the residents or the local government.

The worst thing that can happen is the collapse of the slope, destabilising the foundation of the development like the one that struck Highland Towers in 1993.

A technical paper written by Gue See-Sew of G&P Professionals (A Safety Guideline for Hill Site Development in Penang, Malaysia - Challenges and a Way Forward) in 2014 praised some of the initiatives that have been implemented by the Penang government in relation to hillslope development.

The question that arises today is despite the volumes of guidelines and regulations on the matter, why are landslides and floods still occurring in 2017?

Does the Penang have an implementation problem or a complete lack of political oversight because there is no opposition in the state government?

Will heads roll because of this tragedy or will it be just business as usual for DAP in Penang?


KONG LEN WEI is the Perak MCA Youth Young Professionals Bureau chief

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

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