A STATEMENT that UNESCO adviser Richard Engelhardt made on George Town’s status as a World Heritage Site (WHS) has sparked off a timely debate. Engelhardt, UNESCO regional adviser for the Asia-Pacific, said on Nov 18 that George Town’s status could be in jeopardy following plans to have new high-rise buildings within the heritage enclave. Stakeholders must now to grips with the realities of managing a WHS, with all the conditions that must be met. Read here for more.

Engelhardt, who had a frantic three-day visit to Penang before heading for Melaka and later Kuala Lumpur for a series of meetings with Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry officials, had questioned the approval of four projects within the core and buffer zones. One project in the buffer zone was approved hardly 10 days before granting of the status on July 7 this year.

Three of the four hotels were approved by the previous state administration while the Bintang Holdings project was approved on June 26, less than two weeks before the UNESCO status was granted.

At a talk on "How to manage a World Heritage Site" organised by Khazanah Nasional in Penang, Engelhardt spelt out the consequences of the new developments. These included being stripped of the status. Read here for more. He said UNESCO had removed the status of a German heritage site when a modern bridge was constructed after being inscribed.

He also questioned the sincerity of the local authority to approve the structures, which exceeded the 18-metre limit on height especially with the UNESCO listing pending. The World Heritage Committee (WHC), he added, could view the action as irresponsible management, and recommended that new development projects should be submitted to WHC for review before implementation.

The next day, Nov 19, during a dialogue with heritage advisory panel members, which was also attended by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, Engelhardt reiterated his warning. Read here for more.

Latest dossier submitted Aug 23, 2007
While the State Government says approval was given before Penang and Melaka were inscribed on the World Heritage list, Engelhardt says a dossier submitted to UNESCO, which included a height restriction of 18 metres or five storeys on buildings within the core and buffer zones, would have to be adhered to. The latest dossier was submitted to UNESCO on Aug 23 2007.

Engelhardt's argument was that when the dossier was submitted, the State Government had already agreed to certain parameters and already decided on the heritage profile of buildings, and must adhere to the guidelines specified for the core and buffer zones, and just outside the buffer zone. He said the World Heritage Convention stated that the inscription was a legal fact, and it must supercede anything which has been approved.

Engelhardt did not mince his words when he warned that if other development projects not conforming to the height restrictions are carried out, the State Government would be hauled up for questioning.

‘Caught in a twilight zone’
Lim said the MPPP had approved the projects before Penang was inscribed, and hence it would not be possible for the State Government to revoke the planning approval. "We would be subject to legal action by the developers if we now revoked the approvals which were given by the state planning committee based on MPPP guidelines prior to the inscription,” he said.

"When the new State Government took over in March, our instructions to MPPP were to follow the existing guidelines and we expected all the guidelines to be in place. We were not informed of the heritage guidelines and we are now caught in a twilight zone as there should have been a clause included in the approvals given that the height allowed was subject to change once the inscription was in place."

Lim said the State Government would have to await the outcome of the technical committee meeting between the Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry and Engelhardt to decide on the status of the projects which have approved.

Room to persuade two developers
On Nov 20, Lim said there was still room to persuade the developers Bintang Holdings Sdn Bhd and Asia Global Business Sdn Bhd (Rice Miller Hotel) to adhere to the 18-metre/five-storey height requirement. He said these two projects had been issued planning permission which have to be renewed annually, while construction on the projects of Boustead Holdings Sdn Bhd at Pengkalan Weld and the expansion project of the E & O Hotel for a 17-storey building have already started.

He said during the visit of Prof David Lung from International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) in August last year, in connection with Penang's listing, it was suggested that the State Government submit a heritage management plan and guidelines for conservation areas and heritage buildings to strengthen the evaluation of the dossier submitted.

Lim said the State Government then handed over the plan and guidelines to Lung for evaluation. "Officially, this is what we have to adopt after the inscription was given on July 7,” he added. Lim said the State Government will have to impress upon UNESCO that these projects were approved before the listing.

Teng: Projects known to Lung
Meanwhile, former tourism committee chairman Teng Chang Yeow said that the three projects which were approved earlier were known to Lung, as the developers had briefed Lung. Read here for more.

Gerakan Penang chairman Datuk Dr Teng Hock Nan, who was the local government committee chairman then, said it would be the Bintang Holdings project, the only one to be approved by the new state government which could cause Penang to lose its heritage status, as the other three approved by the previous State Government were also made known to UNESCO. Read here.

UNESCO to send experts
On Nov 24, Hubert Gijzen, the regional chief for UNESCO, said Penang could lose its newly-acquired World Heritage status because of the four hotels. Read here. Gijzen who officially presented the listing to Penang and Melaka a few days earlier, said UNESCO would send experts to help resolve the controversy.

He said the Ministry of Unity, Culture and Heritage had agreed to set up a joint UNESCO mission of experts who will sit with the local government and developers to work out the issues. The team will look at all angles and submit its findings to work something out but if an agreement could not be reached, then the island will risk losing its heritage status.

Gijzen also said the claim by Teng Chang Yeow and Teng Hock Nan that the guidelines on the height policy had been amended to allow for the buildings would have to be investigated, as all countries have to go strictly by the guidelines, which are rarely amended.

On Nov 26, the ministry announced prominent Penang-based conservation architect Laurence Loh as a potential consultant to advise the Government on the problems besetting George Town's UNESCO listing. Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal said Loh was picked as a consultant for the ministry's impact analysis on George Town's heritage status as he was an expert known to UNESCO. Read here.

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