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By Goh Ban Lee.
Public and political opinions seem to agree very well that Penang must become cleaner and greener if it is to gain greater international prominence. What needs doing is not hard to figure out. Since there is agreement, then what we now need is agreement on the actions required.
 THE state government has launched a Cleaner Greener Penang Initiative. It is part of the vision of turning Penang into an “international city” that is “the location of choice for investors, the destination of choice for tourists and the habitat of choice for sustainable living”. For that, it must definitely be commended. Cities that have been routinely ranked at the top of liveable cities indexes all have green open spaces and parks. Vancouver, number one in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) 2010 World’s Most Liveable Cities Ranking, is noted for its numerous and very well maintained parks, including Stanley Park, Dr Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden and Queen Elizabeth Park. The second most liveable city on the list is Vienna, which has easily accessible gardens and parks, many with statues of famous people. For example, the Common Gardens (Volksgarten), located within the city centre, is accessible to everyone.
Adelaide, number eight on the EIU list and sister city to George Town, not only has a swath of parklands surrounding the city, but also boasts landscaped “squares” in the middle of the city. The Torrens River that flows through the city has linear parks on the embankments. More interestingly, many cities are dismantling buildings and highways to build parks and recreation areas. For example, in Seoul, the Cheonggyecheon Restoration Project demolished two heavily used roads in the middle of the city to recreate a canal and build pedestrian linear parks. It is now noted to be one of the best examples of urban rejuvenation. But formulating the Cleaner Greener Penang Initiative is only the first step in making Penang an attractive place for investment, work, bringing up families and having a good life. There is a need for detailed plans of action to ensure that it becomes a reality. More importantly, resolute political will is needed to ensure that the vision is realised. This may be more difficult than it sounds. Competition for the use of land can be intense, especially in choice loca-tions, and politicians need to stand firm to ensure that land meant for open spaces and parks is not hijacked for other uses. As a general rule, parks and open spaces are under the jurisdiction of the local authorities. They have the laws and the workers. For a start, it is imperative for the Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) and Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP) to make an inventory of all the open spaces and parks in their areas of jurisdiction. This should also include road reserves that are big enough for planting shrubs and grass. There should be a concerted effort to show the public that open spaces and parks are important to the councils. This can be done by keeping such places clean and attractive. Facilities in such places should be maintained and upgraded. The grass must be evidently mowed regularly, and plants and trees trimmed. Any neglect of open spaces is an “invitation” to illegal occupation. Though requiring a lot of work, the above tasks are the easy part. What is more difficult is the reclamation of open spaces and parks that have been converted for other uses. For example, part of the open space along Jalan Free School has been used as a hawker centre since the early 1990s. More space has also been hijacked for a car park. At Gurney Drive, the hawker centre near the roundabout was a children’s play-ground. The hawker centre was meant to be a temporary measure to clear the hawkers away from the sidewalk on the seaward side of Gurney Drive in the early 1990s. While poor and struggling hawkers must be helped to have a chance in the city, it should not be at the expense of taking away open spaces and parks. Where needed, local councils, with help from the federal government, should acquire land from the state government for proper hawker complexes. There is also a need to ensure that pieces of land that were surrendered by developers for road reserves, open spaces or parks are not being used for other purposes. For example, such areas along Jalan Jelutong have been used as mini hawker centres. The MPPP has even built a covered structure for the hawkers on one such space. It is useful to note that part of the attraction of Pulau Tikus is the presence of trees on road shoulders and reserves. There is no doubt that the same can be done in Jelutong. It can be turned into an attractive place with well landscaped road reserves and patches of mini-parks. Open spaces surrendered by private developers must be properly kept. But some of these are often largely neglected. There is no need to spend large amounts of money on expensive park furniture. What is needed is keeping the plants healthy and the grass mowed. Where there are children’s facilities, these must be well maintained. Dog owners must not be allowed to use open spaces and parks as toilets for their pets. The need for parks and open spaces along the coasts has been argued in an article in the September issue of this magazine. Suffice it to say that unless a concerted effort is made very soon, ensuring adequate open spaces and parks to make Penang attractive will become very expensive. All lands surrendered by property developers for open spaces and parks must become the property of the local authori-ties. The Penang state government must discontinue the practice of not issuing land titles in the name of the local council for land surrendered by housing developers. The MPPP made mistakes in the past that resulted in large pieces of land meant for open spaces and parks not being transferred from developers to the council. As a result, the developers were able to reclaim and build houses on parts of the land that was supposed to have been surrendered to the council for open spaces and parks. (An example is the reduced size of the Heritage Park opposite Suffolk House.) The present practice of not issuing titles for land surrendered for open spaces and parks is no guarantee that the land will remain as such. There is nothing to prevent the state from selling the land. But if the land is registered under the name of the local council, any sale of the land will need the approval of the full council and also the permission of the state government. It can be costly to maintain open spaces and parks. But there is no doubt that Penangites are willing to pay if proper maintenance of them can be guaranteed. For Penang to be an internationally noted liveable city, it must create more open spaces and parks. ** Republished with permission. This article first appeared in the October 2010 issue of the Penang Economic Monthly. Goh Ban Lee is a senior research fellow at the Socio-Economic and Environmental Research Institute (SERI).
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