Five projects hit snag

14/06/2008 The Star By Ng Su-Ann

FIVE housing projects in Batu Ferringhi were issued a stop-work order by the Penang Municipal Council last month for failing to follow its regulations.

Council president Datuk Zainal Rahim Seman said the notices were given after his officers found that the developers’ sedimentation ponds and perimeter earth drains were not following the council’s specifications.

However, upon further monito-ring, the order for one or two of the projects may be lifted soon, he added.

“It’s normal for us to conduct inspections from time to time,” he told newsmen after a full council meeting yesterday.

On another matter, he said the council had sent a letter to the Pu-blic Works Institute of Malaysia (Ikram) last week to appoint the institute to conduct a two-week survey involving geo-technical and soil studies on the Penang Times Square project.

This came in the wake of cracks which have appeared in several buildings around the project by Ivory Properties Group.

Zainal said: “We have also ask-ed the developer to come up with proposals on how to curb the pro-blem. So far, no stop-work order has been issued.”

The issue surfaced when Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s political secretary and Komtar assemblyman Ng Wei Aik alerted the council after receiving a complaint from a resident in May.

The council visited the site and found cracks in 18 houses. The developer has set up a committee to handle the complaints.

On the flooding at Kampung Paya in Batu Ferringhi, Zainal said it was due to a bad drainage system and drains clogged with sand.

The North-East District Office would come up with a plan to improve the drains, he added.