By Himanshu Bhatt.

ANYONE visiting Tanjung Bungah, the idyllic residential suburb on Penang island, would be left with little doubt about how the area once got its name. Bordered by green hills on one side and a resplendent shoreline on the other, this “Cape of Flowers” has endured over the years as a  green and tranquil place for an influential populace of middle and upper class folk to flourish.

The residents’ complaints stem mainly from a move by the State Planning Committee in 2007 to alter a crucial zoning map in the structure plan. What has irked them is that the change was made unannounced. And it was made after the plan had been put up for public exhibition to gain required feedback. The Town and Country Planning Act stipulates that any alteration should at least be published in two newspapers.

The area, originally designated in the plan’s text as a “Secondary Development Corridor” (low density) has now been coloured as a “Primary Corridor” (high density) on an important map in the plan.

“This error or inconsistency,” says TBRA chairman George Aeria, “was made either due to negligence or on purpose by the previous state administration in order to enable nearly unrestricted development in Tanjung Bungah.”

The infrastructure and available land in the area, residents insist, is not meant to cater for high density. Aeria has for example pointed to limitations imposed by steep hill slopes, old roads, water pipes and electrical wiring.

At a glance, this storm in the Cape of Flowers may seem to be just a localised issue. But from the way things are turning out, it seems to be growing to become yet another focal point of how the Pakatan Rakyat administration juggles with pressure to undo something done by its Barisan Nasional predecessor.

Uncannily enough, this episode in Tanjung Bungah echoes an infamous controversy just a couple of years back when prime land on which the Penang Turf Club stands was inexplicably rezoned, without public consultation. From being originally labelled as “open space and recreation”, the sprawling 104ha plot was furtively converted to being “new development”.

This same land was then earmarked for the botched Penang Global City Centre (PGCC) project, touted by its developer to cost some RM25 billion. Residents around the area, as well as non-governmental organisations, went up in arms protesting that the change was done without the knowledge of the public.

The PGCC project was eventually shelved. But, like what is now happening in Tanjung Bungah, there is concern that the new zoning would enable a new party to submit a similar development proposal on the land to the authorities.

Penang’s executive councillor for town and country planning, Wong Hon Wai, has insisted that there is little to worry as far as the Tanjung Bungah case is concerned. For the state has its own “control plan” covering every square metre of the area. Whatever the map in the structure plan may appear to stipulate, builders would still need to get approval from the municipal council for any project.

As it is, the state has so far resisted developers who are pushing to have their dense low-cost housing, required by law when building other forms of residential projects, in Tanjung Bungah.

But there may be other reasons for the state to want to maintain the high-density status of the area. Located just outside George Town, at the threshold of the Batu Ferringhi-Teluk Bahang beach resort area, Tanjung Bungah is a veritable “gateway” to the famous tourism belt. It is therefore conceivable that the state would, for the future, like to keep to a minimum its official development restrictions for this very central area.

And therein lies the worry. As it is, a huge swathe of green hills along what was once a most pleasant thoroughfare snaking towards the famous beach area has already been decimated by high-rise projects.

What makes the whole case particularly suspicious is that during the structure plan’s display for public feedback in 2006, the text and map were both consistent in showing Tanjung Bungah in the secondary corridor.

“However, for reasons known only to the state planning committee at that time, it decided unilaterally on Feb 12, 2007 to change the diagram to what it is today, different from the text,” Aeria said.

He has called on the state government to do the “honest and honourable thing” to correct a wrong by placing Tanjung Bungah in the Secondary Development Corridor in the upcoming local plan. There is a provision for the structure plan to be changed every five years. But residents fear that within that time frame many projects may be sneaked through for approval if the zoning is not rectified soon.

And till that is addressed, the state government is likely to have its hands full in sheltering itself from yet another rainstorm precipitated by the dealings of its predecessor.

**Republished with permission. This article first appeared in the Oct 1, 2009 issue of theSun. Himanshu is newspaper's Penang bureau chief.

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