More info on the PGCC

The Penang Heritage Trust has more information on the Penang Global City Centre.

The Penang Global City Centre (PGCC) is a project of Equine Capital Bhd. The project to be carried out via its associate Abad Naluri Sdn Bhd, will be developed on the current Penang Turf Club land on Jalan Scotland. The project is estimated to cost about RM25 billion. It will be sited over a 104ha-land which will incorporate technology and ecology based components and modeled along the lines of Kuala Lumpur City Centre. It is being marketed as `one of the world's first zero-carbon cities where pollution will be kept to a minimum'.

The PGCC has been billed as the largest commercial development in Penang that will feature two five-star hotels, a performing arts centre, high-end retail outlets, two iconic towers, residential properties and a world-class meeting and convention centre. It will also promote medical tourism in the state through specialist clinics at the PGCC.

The site will also contain 33 blocks of residential units ranging between 12 floors and 53 floors. The blocks include two five-star hotels - one which is 53 stories high and another 22 stories. The total luxury residential units are 6,933 units including 100 bungalows. One of the two iconic towers will have 66 floors.

According to Equine, the project will combine 34.4ha of parkland, including 10.4ha 1km-long linear park, and about 24ha of a hill site that cannot be developed.

The project was launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Sept 12, 2007.

Our group of concerned NGOs is shocked that the PGCC has been launched even before obtaining all major planning approvals. The government should not also have granted a fast-track status for the project, seeing that the scale of the development is going to create a drastic impact on the areas of traffic, social and environment on Penang island.

Questions raised about the manner by which the land was converted from 'Open Space' to 'Mixed Development', about traffic congestion, public consultation, and provision for social housing remain unanswered.

The project is so large that it will affect almost every person in Penang, but there has been very little public consultation. By our estimate, it will generate about 60,000 traffic movements daily which will be channeled into Jalan Scotland and Jalan Utama (via Jalan Brook). Even now these roads are heavily congested and we worry what effect the huge additional traffic will have.

The traffic dispersal plan for the project leaves much to be desired and we are asking for another traffic study by independent experts to be done before any decisions are made.