This time, NGO supports Penang Municipal Council, raps DAP’s Ooi
Looi Sue-Chern, TMI
A non-governmental organisation has spoken against Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi for taking the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) to task over delays in processing building plan applications from developers.
The Citizens Awareness Chant Group (Chant), which is usually critical of the council, has come to its defence and said that the MPPP should not be blamed if the developers submitted “bad quality” applications that were incomplete or not presented in the proper format.
“The council has to deal with technical matters when processing applications. There are also several levels or different departments to go through sometimes. Surely the MPPP can give reasonable explanations for the delays,” said its adviser Yan Lee (pic).
“We also do not think politicians should get into the MPPP’s work.”
Lee said the council needs to come down hard on developers, adding that if an application did not meet requirements, it should give the developer only a few changes to get it right.
He also said the council needs to put into good use information gathered and mistakes learned from development cases under inquiry, and organise relevant courses and seminars for its officers to improve its performance.
“Take the Menara Umno lighting arrestor case, for instance. It shows that planning and building submissions must be carefully studied,” he told a press conference in George Town today, adding that how fast applications are cleared should not be the sole benchmark to measure the council’s performance.
Lee, however, agreed with Ooi that Penang needed to speed up the introduction of the local plan which would clearly determine zoning and the kind of development each plot of land was allowed.
The absence of the local plan since 2005 has been blamed for the delays by the MPPP.
