State planning committee has no authority to interfere in planning permission approvals given by city councils, says Kon Yeow

GEORGE TOWN, Feb 2 — The state planning committee (SPC) does not have the authority to cancel planning permission approvals given by the local authorities over the foreign workers’ hostel projects in Teluk Kumbar, said Penang chief minister Chow Kon Yeow.

He said the SPC can only make decisions on the rezoning of lands for developments, and one of the proposed foreign workers’ hostels in Teluk Kumbar had submitted an application for planning permission and it was approved by the Penang Island City Council (MBPP).

“It was approved with conditions that the developer has to meet but the project is yet to start,” he said in a press conference at his office today.

He said a second proposed foreign workers’ hostel in Teluk Kumbar has also submitted its application for planning approval.

“The application is still under consideration and not approved yet,” he said.

He said he had met with the Balik Pulau MP Datuk Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik, Bayan Lepas assemblyman Datuk Azrul Mahathir Aziz, representatives from the action committee against foreign hostels in Teluk Kumbar and the developers of the projects.

“Based on the meeting, the action committee is not against the concept of a foreign workers’ hostel but they don’t agree to its location in Teluk Kumbar,” he said.

He said the group raised concerns on traffic and social issues that could be caused by the foreign workers’ hostel in the area.

“After the discussions, I leave it to the action committee and the developers to take the necessary follow-up action on their own,” he said.

He said the state cannot stop landowners from submitting applications for planning approvals for any project, including the foreign workers’ hostel.

Similarly, he said the state cannot intervene in planning approvals given by MBPP as these approvals were given in accordance with the council guidelines.

Chow also said the proposed foreign workers’ hostels in Teluk Kumbar were not in the draft local plan.

“This is a new requirement to build foreign workers’ hostels so it is not in the draft local plan but the local plan only specifies the zoning use of lands such as residential, commercial or industrial so the foreign workers’ hostel can be categorised as commercial,” he said.

The action committee against the development of foreign workers’ hostel in Teluk Kumbar, which consisted of mostly residents in the area, has held numerous demonstrations against the projects.

The action committee chairman Professor Muhammad Idiris Saleh, who handed yet another memorandum against the project to Chow’s office today, said Teluk Kumbar is far from the industrial zone.

“It will lead to serious traffic congestion in this area if they build the hostels in Teluk Kumbar as we only have one narrow access road and this cannot cater to hundreds of factory buses transporting the workers,” he said.

He said he had met with Chow to raise his objections against the project.

“The project will still go on so we are now handing in another memorandum in hopes that the state government will consider our reasons why the hostels should not be built in Teluk Kumbar and relocate the projects,” he told reporters at Level Three in Komtar.

There are two proposed foreign workers’ hostel projects to be built in Teluk Kumbar.

One which will house about 7,000 workers was approved by the city council while the second project, to house about 22,000 workers is still pending approval.