GEORGE TOWN: The Penang Federal Action Council, a body formed by Putrajaya to oversee federal projects in the state, expressed concern about the reported rezoning of rural and agricultural lands for other purposes.

Its chairman, Datuk Zainal Abidin Osman, said the council received growing feedback that several pieces of land have recently had their status converted to enable residential and commercial projects.

“If this continues, areas in Penang that have been slated for agricultural revenue will be affected,” he said. “It is very distressing if rural places, especially those that have padi fields, are being converted like this.”

“We want the state government to look  into  this seriously so that it does not impact our food supply,” he added, after chairing a council meeting in George Town yesterday.

Zainal said the council has received feedback of cases in which private land parcels in Balik Pulau, Nibong Tebal and Kepala Batas have been allowed to be converted for projects involving mostly low-density housing and some commercial units.

He said the state planning committee of the Penang government, which was the authority behind the land conversions, should reveal the exact number of plots that had their status converted and explain the rationale for the conversions.

In one of the cases, the land being rezoned to make way for housing was a hillslope in Balik Pulau, he said.

Meanwhile, Zainal announced that the Penang Sentral transportation hub project in Butterworth will begin next month after a delay of some eight years.

In February last year, the RM2 billion project by the federal government was issued an ultimatum by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to proceed or risk having its approval cancelled by the state.

The project is a major initiative under the Northern Corridor Economic Region development.

Zainal said site planning for the construction works was completed, and the project will begin next month.

Launched by then prime minister Datuk Seri (now Tun) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in 2007, the project was planned on 10ha of land in Butterworth. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on January 28, 2015.