GEORGE TOWN, Dec 7 — Restoration works for the row of heritage shophouses along Kimberley Street will next year, the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) announced today.
In a joint statement issued by MBPP and George Town World Heritage Inc (GTWHI), the council revealed that it called for an open tender for the restoration project in April this year.
"We had to call for a second tender in July as there were no qualified applicants to be appointed in the open tender exercise," it said in the statement issued today in response to questions raised by Penang Gerakan this morning.
It added that, after the second tender process, the applicants went through an evaluation process before decisions were made in November.
"Therefore, the project is expected to start in early 2017," it said.
This morning, Penang Gerakan Youth assistant secretary Loh Kit Mun said the row of double-storey prewar buildings belonging to the MBPP were earmarked for restoration since last year, yet nothing has been done since.
The row of six buildings was located at the buffer zone of the world heritage site and today, the MBPP and GTWHI confirmed that the buildings are Category 2 heritage buildings.
"The buildings architecture are of the Early Transitional Style so the buildings have to be restored in accordance with heritage preservation guidelines," it said.
Due to the strict heritage conservation guidelines, they said the restoration works must involve experts in the field of heritage restoration and conservation.
They also denied that the project was postponed, adding that they took steps to restore the buildings in accordance with the heritage guidelines.
"The Penang state government together with the MBPP, GTWHI, Think City, Penang Heritage Trust and Penang Apprenticeship Programmes For Artisans (PAPA) are committed in taking proactive steps in the aspects of protecting and conserving heritage buildings and traditional trades in George Town," the two said.
Prior to the open tender exercise, they said preparations such as getting a Heritage Management Plan, Dilapidation Report, structural report, visioning workshop and detailed plans needed to be completed first.
"After obtaining the reports, a consultant architect needs to be appointed to plan out the space usage of these buildings in accordance with the zone of the site under the George Town World Heritage special area plan," they said.
It was after this that the open tender exercise is called, they added.
They stressed that the state government and the related heritage agencies are working closely to ensure all heritage buildings and intangible heritage in the inner city are protected and conserved.
"This will continue not only for this project by other projects in the future," they said.
