Metro

Thursday July 2, 2009

Boost to heritage activists

By IAN MCINTYRE


THE four hotels which will be built in the heritage zone in Penang have agreed to scale down their developments to comply with the requirements set by George Town’s listing as a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said this in his letter to Giovanni Boccardi, the World Heritage Centre Chief of Unit (Asia and Pacific Section).

Lim said that the E & O hotel had agreed to scale down the number of floors in their extension project from 28 to 15 while Boustead Holdings Berhad’s Royale Bintang hotel and Asian Global Business Sdn Bhd’s Rice Miller Hotel in Lebuh Pantai would be scaled down as well.

In the case of Bintang Holdings Sdn Bhd’s hotel project, Lim said the developer would amend the overall facade to harmonise with the surrounding heritage buildings.

In the three-page letter to the France-based centre, Lim also listed down the 10 moves the government would adopt to preserve the state’s heritage.

In a related development, it was reported on Tuesday that Unesco would no delist Penang from its world heritage listing despite the initial controversy over the approval given to the four hotels in the inner city. It decided not to place Penang and Malacca which are jointly listed onto its List of World Heritage in Danger during its 33rd annual review session in Seville, Spain, on Sunday.

The decision has given a boost to heritage activists.

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