DATUK Keramat assemblymember Jagdeep Singh on Jan 3 visited the Taman Free School market to distribute calendars to market goers and stall
owners. At a press conference later, he said a dialogue session on housing regeneration plans will be held with the residents of the area on Jan 30
and that Taman Free School will be the pilot project for the regeneration plan. “The other three places identified are the Mahsuri 6-point
project in Bayan Baru, and in Mak Mandin and Ampang Jaja in mainland Penang,” he said. He commented that on Dec 7, the Penang state Urban
Regeneration Committee meeting was held to initiate this plan. The committee will look into regenerating decades-old public housing schemes in
Penang like those at Rifle Range, Taman Free School, Bayan Baru, Taman Tun Sardon and Mak Mandin. “As the units have owners, we have to
study the legality of what we are trying to do. We have to iron out all problems. Then, we have to educate the people and raise awareness. We have
to help them understand and see what is in store for them in this initiative,” he said. The regeneration plan includes replacing old, low-rise
blocks of flats, which are becoming costly to maintain, with new, taller and better-equipped flats. “Some of the old (current) schemes are only five
storeys high. If we replace them with new blocks of 15 or 20-storey flats, we can provide homes to more than 1,000 extra families. This is why this
programme is so important,” said Jagdeep. He said the state government may consider building new blocks on available land, relocate a section of
the residents in the neighbourhood to the new units, and demolish the old, vacant flats to make way for new blocks. “We plan to build new flats and
to equip them with proper facilities. As the population in those schemes is also ageing, we will look into introducing the wellness concept to their
living conditions too. “This will include features like hand rails and panic buttons,” he said. Jagdeep said the state would make a request for
proposal to appoint the developers that can give the state the best deal to redevelop and rejuvenate the old neighbourhoods.
He added that a genuine urban regeneration project that benefited a large section of the public would be challenging and trying to implement, but
Penang would be the first state to attempt such an initiative.
Jagdeep said other countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan had been successful in regenerating old housing schemes.
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