Penang Global City Centre (PGCC) propaganda

I wandered into the Queensbay Mall last Friday for lunch and I came across this exhibition on the Penang Global City Centre, or PGCC for short.

There’s a lot of controversy being stirred by this project. Needless to say, it has caused a lot of unhappiness with the more affluent people on Penang island who view the PGCC as an environmental disaster waiting to happen despite its claim to be a zero-carbon project.

Frankly, I am all for an Arts Centre in Penang, whether it be located on the island or the mainland because the Dewan Sri Pinang can no longer fulfil this role and the acoustics in the USM main hall sucks. So, I very much welcome the proposal that the PGCC should have a performing arts hall.

HOWEVER, looking at the proposed design of the PGCC, I simply baulk at the plans. What sort of monstrosity has been proposed to the Penang government, and what on earth has persuaded the government to accept this grotesque design from Abad Naluri? It has not been rammed down the government’s throat or has it? Surely, some sensibility must prevail.

In my opinion, Penang doesn’t need this architectural disaster. The design reminds me of two white earthworms facing off each other. And what is this non-descript structure yjay looks like the SS Enterprise trying to escape the face-off but is failing because it has been secured to the ground?

At the mall, I was curious enough to ask the promoters for a copy of their accompanying publication.

What did I see? A publication produced in haste whose sole objective, I suspect, was to sway public opinion to their favour. But it is poorly produced. Straight away, I noticed numerous language and grammar mistakes. If this document is meant to attract investors (which it is not) or change the minds of the public, it hardly conveys any semblance. It pained me to see them but this is not the crux of the matter.

It didn’t amaze me to see the propaganda spewing from this magazine. But it’s to be expected from a one-sided viewpoint of the developer. Nothing, of course, from the people who are against the project.

Page after page, it was all about how impressive the PGCC would be, like providing a green lung in the city (as if there isn’t one now at exactly the same spot). Page after page, I saw illustrations of the grotesque PGCC twin towers. I’ve also been reading from other blogs that these twin towers will eventually be surrounded by 38 smaller towers. But it doesn’t look like that from the publication. There’s no illustraton at all of them at all. Why, I wonder? Why promote the PGCC without providing the full picture to the residents of Penang, the people who will be mostly affected by the project? It’s not very convincing…

But wait. Here is another picture that I copied from somewhere quite some time ago. I can’t remember where, though. My apologies for not giving the credit. Anyway, this is a model of the PGCC that includes the towers. Now, you can really envision the extent of this project. A real mess, don’t you think so? No wonder the developers have deliberately failed to add the towers into the model that’s been at display at the Queensbay Mall. It would have been a disaster to do so. Most probably, their spin doctors are well aware of the risk they would face if the full elevation plan of the PGCC were to be displayed. But without this, the plan reeks of disception. I don’t have to stay on the island to suspect this.

Traffic dispersion was also very cursorily dealt with. Only promises of their proposed interchanges along Green lane-Scotland Road. But if you travel along this road now, you would wonder how the developer would be able to find the space to build all the interchanges they proposed. Of course, to make the project even more acceptable to the public, the Penang monorial has been drawn into the plans.

But all these plans only look nice on paper. Where is the guarantee that the PGCC, whenever it take off the ground, will look exactly as the developer’s model? We may be left with a half-finished monstrosity that matches the sad state of affairs facing the KOMTAR podium in downtown George Town presently. Poor maintenance and dwindling businesses. A eye sore in the city. The PGCC risks facing the same fate if the developers cannot fulfil their ambitious task, and the whole PGCC is just not going to take four or five years to finish. What makes Abad Naluri a more competent developer than the Penang Development Corporation?

And what is the Penang government’s stand on all this? As far as I know, meek acceptance of everything the developer proposed. They have dismissed all of the public’s viewpoints and objections, saying they will no longer entertain them any more public hearings. That’s prostituting Penang’s soul if the Penang government is no longer interested in preserving or protecting Penang’s old identity.

It’s sad to see all this happening. But what can be done? If the affluent people of the Jesselton area can only talk and not prevent the rape of the Penang Turf Club, what more can we, the common folks, do to stop it? Worse still, most of the residents in Penang will not say anything because they cannot visualise the extent of the damage yet. They will also not say anything because the PGCC does not affect them or touch their lives. By then, it will be too late. Their apathy now will be the downfall of this state eventually.

And as it stands, the document in my hands is wholly nonsense. The folly of Abad Naluri, the folly of Naluri Capital, the folly of the Penang state government, the folly of the Northern Corridor Economic Region, the folly of the Federal government. But what a marvelous work of fiction!