SOME 350 residents living in six condominiums and houses along Persiaran Bayan Indah in Bayan Lepas want the seafront in the Bayan Bay area to be spared of any future land reclamation projects.

Bayan Bay Residents’ Action Committee chairperson Sharifah Hamidah said the residents were not against development but were more concerned about the quality of life.

“We want people to have access to the seafront from Putra Marine Resort until Queensbay Mall and we hope that it will be spared of any reclamation projects,” she told a press conference at the Gold Coast Resort lobby.

During the press conference, the group of residents staged a peaceful protest.

Sharifah, a retired headmistress, said the residents decided to hold the press conference following information they received that there would be some reclamation efforts in the area by a developer.

She added that in July, the residents wrote to the developer to object any land reclamation there.

“However, we didn’t receive any reply from the developer,” she said.

Sharifah said the residents had met Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and Pantai Jerejak assemblyman Sim Tze Tzin in August to express their concern.

She said currently there are six condominium projects and residences — Putra Marine Resort, Gold Coast Resort, Bay Garden, Bay Star, Putra Place Condominiums and Villa Emas — comprising a total of 1,871 residential units in Bayan Bay.

“The population in the area is now more than 10,000 excluding the commercial lots. Soon, there will be 352 more condominium units coming up.

“If more development takes place, there will be massive traffic congestion in the area,” she said, adding that the residents were also concerned about the environmental damage there.

When contacted, Sim said the state government was forced into a negotiation with the developer, Boustead Holdings, after it was required to scale down the height of the high-rise Royal Bintang Hotel which was approved to be built in the Unesco World Heritage zone under the previous state government.

“The developer was requested to reduce the height to no more than 18m (five floors from its original 13) in accordance to the new guidelines.

“The state has to negotiate a settlement with the developer, failing which the state risks facing law suits amounting to hundreds of millions of ringgit,” he said.

Sim also urged Boustead to put the people’s interest and the state’s hard earned heritage status first before its financial profits.

He said it was unreasonable of corporate companies to threaten to sue the state government for a large sum of money simply for adhering to Unesco guidelines.

He expressed hope that Lim would stand firm and not succumb to the pressure from the developer.

Source: The Star