‘Put the environment first’

The landslide in October 2017 at a construction site in Lengkok Lembah Permai, Tanjung Bungah, claimed 11 lives.

The Penang government has been urged to prioritise the environment first and listen to stakeholders’ concerns to prevent landslides and floods in the future.

Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) president Meenakshi Raman said it was important to put the environment above anything else before any development at high-risk areas could be approved.

“Agencies must conduct frequent monitoring at high-risk areas which are prone to landslides and slope failure whenever there is heavy rainfall.

“Tanjung Bungah, Batu Ferringhi, Bukit Kukus, Paya Terubong and other parts are prone to these kind of risks and we know tragedies have happened there before.

“We cannot act if we don’t know the warning signs. Taking precautions is highly important,” she said yesterday.

Meenakshi also said it was critical for the authorities not only to be on high alert but also to anticipate disaster every time there is heavy rainfall, especially at areas with apartments and bungalows perched at hillslopes.

“Anticipation of disaster is important and the authorities must prepare for evacuations and not just wait for a tragedy to happen,” she said.

Meenakshi said monitoring and rehabilitation at high-risk areas was needed to minimise risks of disasters happening in the future.

She said the recent amendment related to hillslope guidelines in the Penang Structure Plan 2020 must be followed strictly as a preventive measure.

In the amendment, any commercial development including housing on hillslopes above 76 metres or with slope gradient of 25 degrees would not be allowed.

Activist Agnes James said the eco-system in Penang had been fragile and susceptible to landslides for many years and this has been a perennial problem for the state.

“The matter is getting worse. For example, the hills at Beverly Hills in Tanjung Bungah have been reduced over the years.

“What happened to them? We don’t know.

“We have been asking for information but until now, we have not received any,” she said.

She said the hills around Tanjung Bungah were actually a place for water catchment and also home to many kinds of wildlife.

She noted that species like giant squirrels were depleting day by day and wildlife had been coming into spaces where humans live because the habitats of the animals had been encroached.

“We have to co-exist with the natural habitat or things are going to get worse.

“We know developers are resorting to shortcuts and not following regulations but why aren’t we doing something about this?

“I am not saying no to development.

“It is needed because people have to put rice on their plates but we can do things differently.

“We can follow the examples set by Japan and countries in Europe,” she said, adding that the voices of the stakeholders must be heard and not shut down.

Penang is known to be prone to landslides with the worst striking on Oct 21, 2017.

A total of 11 workers comprising a local, five Bangladeshis, two Indonesians, two Myanmars and a Pakistani were buried following the landslide.

It happened at an affordable housing project construction site in Lengkok Lembah Permai, Tanjung Bungah.

Then a year later, another major landslide took the lives of nine foreign workers and injured four others at the Bukit Kukus paired road project site.

The construction company and the project director of the Paya Terubong paired road project at Jalan Bukit Kukus were later each fined RM35,000 by the Sessions Courts after they pleaded guilty to an amended charge of failing to provide safe working procedures at the project site.