PETALING JAYA: The Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) has had to approve 19 projects after 2008 because they were deemed as special projects “that could not be rejected” despite exceeding the 76m height limit.

MPPP president Patahiyah Ismail denied that she had contradicted Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng on the controversial hillslope development issue.

“MPPP wishes to reaffirm that all projects carried out 76m above sea level were approved directly or as special projects before March 2008 by the previous state government.

“The Penang chief minister is correct in saying that the present state government has not approved any hill projects above 76m post 2008.

“For those 19 approvals after March 2008, planning approvals were based on the approval of Pelan Dasar Perancangan dan Kawalan MPPP by the State Planning Committee on Sept 13, 1996, and as special projects in accordance with State Structure Plan 2020, which could not be rejected on the basis that it exceeded the 76m height limit,” said Patahiyah in an email to The Star yesterday.

An article published in The Star yesterday pointed out that while Lim had claimed he had not approved a single project above 76m, Patahiyah had said that between April 2008 and May this year, a total of 19 such projects were approved.

She also pointed out that a claim by Penang resident Ong Eu Soon in the same article that a high-rise project in Air Itam was approved in 2009 and sitting well over 76m above sea level, was untrue.

She insisted that the Air Itam project was approved in 2005 and asserted that it was only 56m high.

The Star was quoting from documents handed out by MPPP during a press conference on June 6.

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