16 theSun | THURSDAY MARCH 19 2009

INTERVIEWS VIEWS

Penang’s eternal property shine

AS PENANGITES remain edgy
over the economic crisis, keep-
ing an anxious eye for signs of
retrenchment and factory clo-
sures, one sector has appeared
to survive the global gloom that
threatens to shroud the state.
The property sector, it has
been said, has always shone in
Penang like the “Pearl of the Ori-
ent” that the state is symbolically
referred to as. Over the last few
years, realtors have been buzz-
ing with activity as foreigners
and Malaysians alike incessantly
snap up new projects.
In fact, if a recent report by
Henry Butcher Malaysia is any-
thing to go by, Penangites should
brace themselves for some new
growth areas despite the finan-
cial downturn that is besetting
the national economy.
And the main engine of the
property market is the residential
sector. It effectively contributed
to about 70% of the property
deals that were signed in 2008.
This was mainly due to low
housing interest rates and also
new products that ignited fresh
interest among certain buyers.
Mind you, the real drama is
on mainland Seberang Perai.
The reason is obvious if one
were to know that the popula-
tion growth is higher on the
mainland than on the island.
The island now has a popula-
tion of 700,000 compared to the
mainland whose numbers have
exceeded 800,000.
So when the second Penang
Bridge is completed, as it is pro-
jected to by the middle of 2012,
it is mainland Penang, with Batu
Kawan as its new heart, which
will see a new-found boom. For
the bridge will directly link Batu
Kawan to the island.
No surprise then that a Ko-
rean investor has already com-
mitted to build an international
golf course at a cost of RM350
million in the area. “It will ben-
efit surrounding areas, includ-
ing firms in the Bukit Minyak
industrial park,” says Henry
Butcher’s senior manager, Fook
Tone Huat.
Fook forecasts a flurry of new
growth areas, even as property
prices remain strong and stable
over the next few years. Amaz-
ingly, even unknown areas like
the Juru-Simpang Ampat stretch,
previously remembered only for
dusty villages and muddy rivers,
have started to expand and de-
velop. One of Penang’s newest
hip and fashionable modern
enclaves, the Juru Auto-City,
has emerged here, drawing
hundreds every night.
On the island, prices around
Batu Maung, where the bridge is
slated to be connected, have also
escalated. Residential property
prices in nearby areas like Relau
and Bayan Baru have surged
by 20%. Even Balik Pulau, the
sleepy, traditional rural side of
Penang, located on the other side
of the hills that dissect the island,
is seeing signs of boom.
Anyone who visits the old
town of Balik Pulau today after
a lapse of a few years would be
in for a shock. A quiet planta-
tion area behind the town’s
old famous church is no more;
replaced by tarred roads criss-
crossing around a sprawling
modern concrete expanse of
bungalows and semi-detached
houses.
Indeed, the southwest district
where Balik Pualu is located has
seen prices of landed houses
moving along an upward trend.
There is one factor that may
affect prices in the near future.
Rampant speculative buying,
TheNutmeg especially high-cost apartments,
Verses may cause prices to dip. This
is especially true in the tourist
by Himanshu Bhatt
belt from Tanjung Bungah to
Batu Ferringhi, which is seeing
several high-rise condominium
projects.
There are signs that pur-
chases made for such projects
for investment purposes are be-
ginning to affect the market now
as the original buyers sweat to
sell off their units. The situation
threatens to bring prices of such
properties down later this year.
In contrast, landed resi-
dential property has remained
more resilient, especially on the
mainland, where houses priced
from RM100,000 to RM200,000
contributed to 34% of total
transactions here. A string of
new launches has also attracted
buyers from the island with vast
differences in prices.
And then there are other up-
coming infrastructure projects
that are making realtors drool
in anticipation. The 25-year-
old bridge across the Penang
channel is being widened to
accommodate more vehicles.
And the Penang International
Airport is being upgraded as
is Swettenham Pier in George
Town. The construction of the
Penang Sentral transport hub is
also expected to be under way in
Butterworth.
And should other mega-
projects that have been stalled
– like the monorail and the
Penang outer ring road – finally
get implemented, one can hardly
foresee the property sector be-
ing even remotely affected by an
economic crisis for a long time.
Himanshu is Penang bureau
chief. Comments: letters@thesun-
daily.com

» From Page 15
to act as a deterrent to smugglers. The police
and customs have powers to take action on the
smugglers, however, we don’t see it being done
effectively.
That is one reason why Southeast Asia is one
of the main players in this trade. The police,
Customs, Cites and the judiciary should work
closely with each other in combating the illegal
wildlife trade.
How effective is the Protection of Wildlife
Act?
The Act should be reviewed as it is outdated and
has many loopholes. There are some provisions
in the Act, which could not be revealed, and that
alone has hampered the implementation of the
law. It doesn’t serve as a deterrent to curb the
problem and the lack of awareness and knowl-
edge among law enforcers on the subject is yet
another problem. The penalties are too low to
act as a deterrent. Many offenders get away with
a compound.
How many cases have been solved (over the
last 10 years)?
Perhilitan solved a remarkable 6,587 wildlife
trade cases from 2005 till January this year. Some
44 cases were taken to court. The department
also seized 917 owls in Muar last November and
319 in Kuantan in January.
It conducted checks on pet shops under Ops
Sayang and the premises of taxidermists and
leather hide sellers under Ops 49 and Ops Kulit,
last year.
Officers from its headquarters raided a house
in Muar last November, where nine “totally
protected” and four “protected” wildlife species
were found in a freezer. The suspect pleaded
not guilty and bail was set at
RM19,000. The same suspect
was apprehended in 2004 for
having 182 pangolins and 1.3kg
of pangolin scales. He was fined
RM7,500. The estimated value of
the seizures is RM86,000.
Officers also raided a store in
Segamat, Johor, last November
where 7,093 clouded monitor
lizards with an estimated weight
of 35 tons were confiscated. The
black market value is estimated
at RM50-80 a kilo.
The department’s officers
seized more than RM3 million
worth of live and dead exotic
wildlife. The seizures followed
raids at two locations in Johor. In
other raids in the state, more than
13 species of protected animals
were seized. Among the animals
found were 7,000 clouded moni-
tor lizards, 1,000 owls, pangolins,
crested serpent eagles, pythons,
mousedeer, Malayan porcupine,
wild pigs and bear body parts.

Traffic has launched an online

petition to push for a revision of
the present law. What has the
support from the public been?
The petition asks for changes to
the protection of wildlife. The
response is disappointing. We
A smuggler caught with parrot eggs sewn into his vest.
have only about 3,700 signatures
altogether and our target is about
100,000. It’s been nearly a year
and if you look at the list of people who have ask any kid, “What’s the name of this plant?”,
signed up, a lot of them are from outside they probably won’t know.
Malaysia so we have a lot of foreigners sign- Some of the NGOs, for example Malay-
ing in. One of the things about the public is sian Nature Society and WWF, are doing a
that if they are not affected then it is not their great job in educating the public on plants
problem. If a tiger is killed, how is it going to and animals and they’ve been doing it for
affect me and my family? It’s got nothing to years but you still see a lot of people not
do with my family so I’m not going to sign it appreciating what is around them. This also
or they don’t realise its importance. So it’s the reflects on our development: builders and
understanding of the whole ecosystem that is contractors are given permits to develop
lacking in Malaysia. just about anything. So you wonder who
And I think environmental education is needs to be educated – the children or the
missing from the syllabus. So you see chil- adults.
dren, even my nieces, who have pets but they
don’t understand where the animals came What are the programmes prepared by
from and their habitat. So it’s just a matter of Traffic to create awareness among people
going to the pet store, coming back with an especially the younger generation?
animal and playing around with it. I remem- We give talks in schools. We have collaborat-
ber when I was a kid I used to go around the ed with Perhilitan to come up with a national
drains in Section 14 with some of my friends tiger action plan which was launched last
after school looking for tadpoles and tilapias year. We go to the villages and towns to talk
– we were actually monitoring some of the about the importance of conservation and
tadpoles to see how they were growing. we encourage villagers to report to Perhilitan
It’s so different now in terms of the educa- or any of these NGOs if they see snares or
tion before because I remember in school all suspected poachers. For adults, our main fo-
those years ago, teachers made sure we went cus has been enforcement agencies because
out of the class and walked around the school we feel we need to sensitise enforcement
just to see what was around the school. If you officers.