PGCC: There go the angsana trees

PGCC: There go the angsana trees


My sources tell me that the PGCC developer?s consultants said yesterday they
would avoid cutting down the trees along Scotland Road but admitted that some
angsana trees would have to make way for the road widening/flyover work,
especially near the Jalan Batu Gantong junction, to cope with the extra traffic
anticipated.

These trees are actually heritage trees. Some concerned Penangites pasted
posters (see picture above) on the trees likely to be affected. One person who
has seen the plan told me that perhaps a few dozen trees would have to be
chopped down.

By this morning, the posters had disappeared.

The threat to the trees flies in the face of the assurance given by PGCC
master-planner Nasrine Seraji, which was reported in the New Straits Times:

Paris-based architect Nasrine Seraji also gave the assurance that the angsana
trees along Jalan Scotland would not have to make way for the project.

?Residents in the neighbouring Jesselton area can also expect a better view,
improved air quality and enhanced property values,? she said here yesterday.

(Have I taken her comments out of context?!)

I don?t see how air quality can be improved with the huge volume of extra
traffic in the area.

The developers for their part have pledged to plant hundreds of thousands of
trees. (Seeing is believing.)

But as one concerned Malaysian observed of the threat to the angsana trees:

This shows prima facie that PGCC is not a sustainable development proposal! Even
replacing mature trees (particularly handsome Angsana?s) is not a good option
because young trees will take decades to achieve the positive environmental
impact that existing mature trees already have now. PGCC is a double-edge sword
that cuts both ways - increasing traffic level and hence fossil fuel consumption
and greenhouse gas emission level and at the same time eliminating trees that
help filter and cleanse the air. And we are talking still about other long-term
adverse impacts of traffic encroachment on society?.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 28th, 2007 at 7.14 pm and is filed
under Development issues, Environment/climate change, Malaysian
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