GEORGE TOWN, May 9 ― The Penang government may “overlook” its previous suspension order and approve the construction of certain shopping mall projects in the state depending on its scale, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said today.
The suspension order was previously imposed to prevent a surplus of such properties on the land-strapped state.
“We are willing to overlook this and consider approving the proposed retail mall by The Light City,” he said at the launch of the project here.
He added that the state government will review the shopping mall application from the developer due to the project’s size.
The Light City, by IJM Perennial Development Sdn Bhd, is an integrated waterfront development that will include a retail mall, Penang's largest convention centre, Penang Waterfront Convention Centre, hotels, office tower and premium residential projects.
“They have not submitted applications yet so I can't say we have already approved but we will give it serious consideration because of the size of the whole project,” he said.
Currently, all applications to build shopping complexes must first obtain approval from the state government before the local government could issue any approvals.
“We don't want surpluses of complexes, we want only quality ones,” Lim said.
So far, on the island, Lim said there were no recent approvals for shopping malls but he said there were some approvals for projects on the mainland.
Another proposed shopping mall on the island that the state may be approving is one by Sunway City (Penang) Sdn Bhd.
“They have sent in application to build a shopping complex at the Lee Rubber land, they will likely get approval,”Lim said.
The Lee Rubber land is located in Paya Terubong and Lim said Sunway already has a mall in Seberang Jaya on the mainland.
