The Consumers Association of Penang has called on the Penang State Government to not build the cable car connecting the Botanical Gardens to the Penang Hill summit after the state government announced the awarding of the project to local project enabler Hartasuma.
The association cites concerns about the well-being of the people, and the integrity of the environment which it said should not be sacrificed at the altar of tourist dollars.
In a press statement, CAP adds the provision of a cable car would lead to the construction of hotels, restaurants, theme parks, homes, and roads to cater to the increased number of tourists and residents. Such development will have disastrous impacts on the fragile hill environment and endanger ecological balance. It is bound to lead to loss of forest cover and pollution of streams on the hill. It will result in the reduction of habitats, and the consequent extinction of, valuable plants, animals, birds, and insects.
Its impact will also cause soil erosion, degraded land slopes, and increased landslides. It blames the authorities for not learning any lesson from the storm and the floods several years ago which caused massive landslides, uprooted many trees, and cut off communication on the hill. Currently, more than 5000 people go up the hill and this is already exceeding the carrying capacity of the hill. Further increase in the number of visitors and residents, as planned by the government, will produce a substantial hike in the consumption of resources – food, water, and energy – and production of waste.
Waste can cause great damage to the hill ecosystems. The hill does not have adequate sewage and waste disposal
facilities to handle the waste generated by large numbers of tourists and residents.
The cable car station is to be located in the midst of the Youth Park and the Botanical Gardens. Thousands of people – children, men, women, and senior citizens – go to these two major open parks for exercise, and to enjoy the peace and tranquillity in the green surrounding. The effect of placing the station there will be to exacerbate the traffic congestion there and in the neighbouring areas. Atmospheric and noise pollution will reach unacceptable limits and ruin the pleasure of those who patronise the Park and the Gardens. Tourist buses and private cars will spew out dangerous exhaust gasses and produce
irritable noise.
The construction of the cable car and the ensuing human activities on the hill and the station will produce large
amounts of carbon dioxide and thereby increase our carbon footprint. This is in clear violation of Malaysia’s
commitment under the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals to reduce its carbon footprint.
CAP further insinuates that leaders, and many other leaders in the world, are wedded to the neoliberal model of economic development. “They are, like the lemmings, blindly pursuing the path of economic growth, leading to the destruction of our environment, and global warming that threatens the very survival of our planet.”
