GEORGE TOWN: Pengkalan Kota assemblyman Daniel Gooi Zi Sen has again come out to defend the Sia Boey rejuvenation project, saying the state government had taken the necessary steps to ensure the historical value of the area still intact despite the development works.
He said the method used to implement the Prangin Canal, which is part of the rejuvenation works, is similar to the Cheonggyecheon restoration project in South Korea.
“The methods are the same. So are they saying that the one in South Korea is also swept under the carpet, as how they labelled us?
“It is unfair for them to say this. Since the photos went viral in social media, people are appreciating the efforts taken by the state government.
“We can see a better canal system today. At the same time, we have solved the waste water issue. The state government deserves credit for what it has done,” he said when contacted today.
Recently, non-government organisation Penang Forum had claimed that the viral pictures of koi fish swimming in the canal only refers to a section of the waterways.
Its committee member Khoo Salma Nasution, who is also vice-president of the Penang Heritage Trust (PHT), said no river (open system) had been rehabilitated involving the canal.
Instead, she said a section of the Prangin Canal structure involving new concrete wall slabs had been converted into a pond with an enclosed water system, while the stormwater had been diverted into a parallel culvert.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow recently visited the refurbished heritage area Old Prangin Market where the canal was located.
Images of the clean and clear water filled with koi fish at the Prangin Canal raised people’s interest on social media, but it was later pointed out that the canal was diverted and “hidden” from view.
Khoo Salma said the area could have been turned into a park as envisioned by former George Town World Heritage Incorporated (GTWHI) general manager Datuk Maimunah Mohd Sharif.
Maimunah was said to have convinced former Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng that he would be positively remembered for giving George Town a public park.
As the landowner, Penang Development Corporation (PDC) was tasked with bringing the plan to fruition. As members of the GTWHI consultative panel, PHT was invited to a few meetings and help nudged it in the right direction.
“Siaboey Reborn: Penang Heritage Arts District” was launched by the former chief minister in September 2015.
Khoo Salma said the proposal included preserving Prangin Canal as a water feature, restoring the 19th-century Prangin Market building into a hawker food court, and turning the shophouses for businesses in food and retail, with the addition of a potentially world-class art museum.
Contractors then came upon relics believed to be from the 1800's, where later on Universiti Sains Malaysia Centre for Global Archaeological Research was engaged by PDC to conduct a scientific study of the discovery.
The recommendation was then to preserve the artefacts and to include the findings in the new plan for the site, she said.
Just a few months after launching the Penang Heritage Arts District, it appeared that the authorities had a change of mind and the area was re-designated as a transport hub for an elevated light rail transit line and two elevated monorail lines, she claimed.
"Earlier, we had great dreams for the park, about how historic structures could be preserved for new uses, how the park would serve the community, and how a workable ecosystem could be revitalised.
"Ideally, the project could have been a real river clean-up starting from upstream, to upgrade the Sungai Prangin to make it suitable for body-contact recreational use.
"However, river rehabilitation was not part of the state’s vision from the beginning.
The urgent thing now was to save it from being obliterated by the transport hub," she added.
Penang Forum's letter to Unesco to inform on the major infrastructure being planned in the vicinity of the George Town World Heritage area had resulted in the shift of the proposed LRT station to Jalan Magazine.
She said the LRT station would replace what could have been the biggest privately-sponsored art museum in the country.
"The relocation of the ‘arts district’ is a real disappointment to the art and cultural communities. The dream of an international urban art-park has turned to dust,” said Khoo Salma.