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GEORGE TOWN: The dust has barely settled on the landslide issue at Bukit Kukus but a citizens’ interest group which monitors Penang’s fragile hills has already cautioned of further possible landslides and rockfalls at the same stretch of slopes.
Penang Hills Watch (PHW) warned that cut hills in the area continue to be left bare, with rocks hanging precariously on hill slopes.
Speaking to FMT, PHW coordinator Rexy Prakash Chacko said while the Penang government had acted on its warning on Bukit Kukus on Oct 8, the engineers appeared unaware of other dangerously cut hills in the area.
He said many other parts of the hills were left bare with no measures to prevent soil erosion as a result of massive hill cutting.
“There are several spots where rocks exposed by construction are insecurely perched on steep hill slopes with no measures to prevent rockfalls from happening.
“If indeed a task force from the state, via Ops Lumpur, has gone there, then how is it that many other sites along the construction area still remain precariously exposed?”
PHW alerted the Penang government to the cut hills of Bukit Kukus twice, once in January 2017 and again last month. NGOs have since criticised the state for being nonchalant over the reports sent.
To date, PHW has issued four reports regarding 75 cases related to the hills since 2016. (HYPERLINK: https://penangforum.net/penang
Chacko said PHW only received a “two sentence-long acknowledgement” on the last report on Bukit Kukus and was given no opportunity to discuss the cases highlighted in the document.
“We spent two months to compile, thoroughly analyse and prepare this report before submitting it in September this year. The least we can ask for is a follow-up meeting to discuss the cases we raised.
“Our previous report, sent in September 2017, received no written response from the city council and only a response from the Seberang Perai Municipal Council.
“We hope this will not repeat itself as this is a citizens-oriented initiative where information is sourced from the general public. The public has a right to know the status of the cases PHW has highlighted and what is being done to address them,” he said.
Although PHW welcomed the high-level state investigation committee looking into the Bukit Kukus incident, he said, the question remained as to whether it would do its job with “adequate authority and impartiality”.
“There are engineers and construction industry representatives but will there be environmental and legal representation on the panel? Will these be addressed? And does it only cover technical aspects?
“We urge the state to immediately investigate the whole site as well as execute the necessary mitigation work without any delay. The probe should also be extended to all other hillside construction areas in Penang, and stricter enforcement needs to be exercised.”
He called for a total revamp of the way projects are monitored by the state and council, and for the law to be enforced with stricter and more routine site checks.
“We reiterate the call by Penang Forum that there should be an immediate moratorium on all ongoing hill land development and a total ban on those which have not started.”
The committee set up by the Penang government to look into the Bukit Kukus incident is headed by Deputy Chief Minister I Ahmad Zakiyuddin Abdul Rahman.
Other panel members include state executive councillor Zairil Khir Johari, a state government engineer and an engineer from the Institute of Engineers Malaysia.
The Penang Forum has called for the probe to be made public and all details made transparent to ensure fairness in the investigation since a state project was involved in the landslide.
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