Killer landslide to hog Penang REHDA annual do

GEORGE TOWN: The over 100 members of the high-powered Penang Real Estate Housing Developers Association (REHDA) are in eager anticipation of what Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng will announce at its annual dinner tonight following the landslide which killed 11 people.
The dinner begins around 8pm at the newly completed Subterranean Penang International Convention and Exhibition Centre (SPICE) in Relau. SPICE is the first site where there were public protests against hillslope developments.
There is wide anticipation of how Lim will address issues of the state balancing development with the conservation of the environment, especially with the civil societies here enraged with hillslope projects and coastal erosion.
Penang REHDA chairperson Datuk Toh Chin Huat confirmed that the members are anxious to hear what Lim has to say.
Toh urged all quarters not to be driven by sentiments over what transpired but to wait for the outcome of investigations into the landslide tragedy which saw one 27-year-old Malaysian site supervisor among those killed.
One person likely not to be invited is Tanjung Bungah DAP assemblyperson Teh Yee Cheu, the green advocate who has repeatedly warned the state about development in ecological sensitive areas.
Teh told theSun that the state must do the right and responsible thing since Mother Nature has demonstrated its wrath with a rash of flooding and landslides to have besieged the state since early this year.
REDHA is a lobbist group set up to champion the rights of developers.
Penang Local Government and Traffic Committee chairperson Chow Kon Yeow, who is the state DAP head, told the media that Penang will deliberate on a proposed moratorium on hillslope development in the state in its state executive councillors' meeting today.
At risks are about 20 ongoing hillside projects on the island, which have received approval by the Penang Island City Council (MBPP).
Pulau Tikus assemblyperson Yap Soo Huey has lent her voice to the concerns of Penangites over the rapid development pace.
She said instead of banning projects, especially those already into the cycle of construction, the authorities should improve on safety and security at construction sites.
She will also highlight in the state legislative assembly sittings that MBPP needs to improve its surveillance of all construction sites to prevent abuse.
Toh said that developers will support Yap on this point. He said that safety should be paramount at all workplace sites.