GEORGE TOWN, Dec 27 — Penang Gerakan Youth spokesperson Tan Zhen Zune today highlighted that the draft Penang island local plan currently on public displayed is too obscure and difficult for the average Joe to understand.
He said even though the draft local plan was available online, it can only be viewed according to the lot number and mukim.
"Normal people would not know the mukim number or lot number of the places they are living in, so they would not be able to view the local plan for their area,” he said in a press conference today.
He said Penang Gerakan has gone through the draft local plan and submitted a few suggestions before December 13.
"There were changes in traffic flows and proposed developments in different areas that the public should know about, especially those affected."
However, he said the state government had made it almost impossible for the people to look at the proposed changes and developments in their area and to give their feedback.
"If they can go all out during campaigning in the general election, telling people to go out to vote, they should be able to do the same to tell people to view the draft local plan and submit their feedback,” he said.
Currently, physical copies of the draft local plan can only be viewed at three locations, at the Syed Al-Attas building in Armenian Street, the Maker Space in Balik Pulau or at the PLANMalaysia office at Level 16 in Komtar.
He said the physical copies can only be viewed during office hours while on weekends, it is only available for viewing at two locations for a period of three hours.
He said there seemed to be various obstructions for the public in —viewing the draft local plan.
"We hope the state government will make it more accessible to the public before the closing date on January 10,” he said.
He suggested that the public be allowed full access to the draft local plan free of charge.
"A townhall session at the respective constituency by the state assemblymen should be held to allow the respective affected residents to ask questions about the draft local plan,” he said.
He said the state government should be more transparent with regards to draft local plan so that more people can submit their feedback.
