Penang's State Planning Committee has final say

GEORGE TOWN: The State Planning Committee (SPC) is the authority to decide if there is a clash between the Penang Structure Plan (PSP) and other development plans.
Penang Town and Country Planning Department director Datuk Mohd Anuar Maidin said the SPC will make the decision if there differences.
He said development in Penang was based on the Base Plan, used by the Penang Island City Council, and the Draft Local Plan, used by the Seberang Prai Municipal Council.
He said differences might arise if a rural area was zoned as agriculture under the Local Plan (LP) but development, like housing bordering a paddy field, had taken place, but the Structure Plan (SP) may have zoned the area as an existing development which allowed development to take place.
"This is a contradiction, so the SPC will make the decision based on the current situation and inputs from the technical departments (and) elected representatives," he said today in response to questions during the question and answer session at a public briefing of the PSP for 2020 to 2030.
The Penang Structure Plan 2020 (PSP2020) Survey Report (Review) has been released by the Town and Country Planning Department for public feedback with the consultation process lasting until Jan 31 and the inputs collected will also be used for planning the PSP2030.
Mohd Anuar also said the government was working to create a mechanism to regulate the development of serviced apartments as some quarters used such projects to skirt around public facility requirements.
He said serviced apartments were zoned as commercial so public amenities like clinics and hospitals were not required to be built when these projects were developed.
He said the issue was when these service apartments were used as homes by buyers which meant people residing there did not have such amenities and have to rely on existing ones.
On the issue of development density, Mohd Anuar said not all areas were allowed to have high density developments.
He said the allowance of high density developments was introduced to encourage the development of more affordable housing.