FOR Mount Erskine residents on Penang island, one of the worst things about a proposed underpass project is the way they have been treated over the matter by the state government.

Up to three generations of families have lived in the single-storey houses that line the road from Mount Erskine to Jalan Burmah, with some houses more than 50 years old.

But the state did not have the courtesy to send someone to explain what the project was all about, and that it would destroy part of their properties.

Instead, many of them only found out about the RM25 million underpass tunnel from the Internet, said resident Shirleen Byrne, who recently made her fellow residents’ plight public with a press conference last week.

The underpass tunnel beneath the junction of Mount Erskine, Jalan Bagan Jermal and Burmah Road is meant to alleviate traffic congestion during peak hours when some 50,000 vehicles use the cross junction in Pulau Tikus.

The state has to acquire part of the residents’ land to widen the road to build the underpass. More than 20 lots of land will be affected.

Byrne, who is a third-generation member of her family to have lived in her house there, said residents had not heard a word about the project from the state government.

“We only came to know that an underpass tunnel would be built from the Internet.

“Many of us here are senior citizens and we feel they are taking advantage of us because we don’t have the resources to fight back.”

She said the state was pushing projects through without listening to the people’s concerns or even asking their opinions about issues.

In Byrne’s case, the state will acquire a 232 sq metre plot on her property, which she said would demolish her garden and leave only 2m between her porch and the road.

She said contrary to what the state had promised, the compensation offered was lower than the market value of the plot.

“I was offered compensation of RM565,000 but a licensed valuer told me the market price is RM4.86 million,” she told The Malaysian Insight.

The higher sum includes injurious affectation, which is compensation for damage to the rest of the remaining property. 

“Some say RM500,000 is already a big sum of money, but this home has even more value for us. I feel as if I’m being robbed by the government,” said Byrne, whose grandfather built the house she lives in.

She also felt the govt was using this project as a “test” to do the same for projects in other areas, as Penang continues to grapple with traffic congestion and new high-rise developments crowding the island.

“We will continue to fight. We won’t let go of our homes. We need to win this fight with the state government and then other places suffering the same fate will be encouraged by our victory,” she said.

Based on documents sighted by The Malaysian Insight, the notice for land acquisition was issued to residents on October 12, 2017, and affects 24 lots from Mount Erskine to Jalan Burmah.

After Byrne and other residents held their press conference last week, the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) finally responded with its own briefing for the media.

MBPP secretary Addnan Mohd Razali confirmed that the project will continue, but due to the time taken to complete land acquisition, he only expected work to begin in the next one to two years.

Public consultation with affected residents will begin next year, he added.

The state was spending RM25 million on land acquisition, besides another RM25 for the underpass itself.

He also said the underpass would form only a small tunnel at the junction.

Addnan had also said the state would follow the recommendations of the Valuation and Property Services Department (JPPH), which had advised that acquisition should be at 135% of market value.

Another elderly resident, a woman who declined to be named because she feared the authorities would act against her, said she got to know about the project from a pamphlet that was sent to her house.

But she has questions about the project and no one to ask.

“I still don’t know what it really is about and no one has come to explain. While we have to do something to resolve traffic congestion, this is not the way,” said the woman who has lived at Mount Erskine for more than 30 years. – September 9, 2019.