THE Department of Environment (DoE) had rejected the application for planning permission from a Penang developer, whose construction site was hit by a landslide yesterday morning.

In a statement tonight, the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry said the DoE’s letter of rejection to the developer Taman Sri Bunga Sdn Bhd was issued in January 2015 after taking into account all the factors.

The ministry said the development site was located right next to a permanent granite quarry – Teik Granite Quarry – which started operations in 1960.

The ministry said the planning permission application could not be supported because there was insufficient buffer zones between the apartment project and the quarrying activities nearby according to the guidelines of siting and zoning of industries and residential areas.

“They perform blasting twice a month and the last one was on October 9, 2017.

“Once the rocks are blasted loose from the hillside, they are sent to a ‘crushing’ site within the quarry where the rocks are then crushed to smaller pieces for construction use.

“The quarrying activities are only 162m away from the crushing site and between 400m and 500m from the blasting site of the quarry. It is therefore not a safe and peaceful environment for people to live in,” the ministry said.

The developer applied for the apartment project to DoE two years earlier on January 5, 2015.

The department also said the development required a detailed engineering study, which in turn may require environmental impact assessment (EIA) approval, because it involved steep slopes.

“Unfortunately, they decided to ignore our advice and went ahead with the construction with blatant disregard to the lives of their workers.

“The ministry is very disappointed with the Penang government’s lack of oversight of the project. Despite the DoE’s objections to the project from the beginning, the developer started construction works without considering the consequences,” the ministry said.

The landslide buried 11 workers at the construction site in Lembah Permai, Tanjung Bungah. Nine bodies belonging to foreign workers have been recovered as of tonight. Two are still missing, including a Malaysian site supervisor.

“The ministry would like to strongly urge the Penang government to reexamine its plans to develop any hillside projects.

“We trust the government will do the right thing and prevent such incidents from happening again and work for the good of the people.” – October 22, 2017.