Penang Global City Centre

Penang Global City Centre (PGCC) ialah projek yang terletak di Penang Turf Club di bahagian pulau, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. PGCC akan memperuntukkan 50,000 meter persegi (538,196 kaki persegi) dibahagikan kepada dua hotel bertaraf lima bintang, 75,000 meter persegi (807,294 kaki persegi) pusat seni persembahan Pulau Pinang, 400,000 meter persegi (4,305,565 kaki persegi) kompleks membeli-belah, 25,000 meter persegi (269,098 kaki persegi) dibahagikan kepada dua menara pejabat, 70,000 meter persegi (753,474 meter persegi) aset hartanah, 100,000 meter persegi (1,076,392 kaki persegi) pusat konveksyen bertaraf dunia, 1500 meter persegi (16,146 kaki persegi) menara balai cerap, 190,000 meter persegi (2,045,142 kaki persegi) tempat letak kereta, pengangkutan monorel, dan sebuah arena besar yang luas..
PGCC, dengan jangkaan nilai pembangunan kasar (GDV) RM25 billon, akan dimajukan di satu kawasan 104ha di mana kini terletak Penang Turf Club.. Abad Naluri telah membeli tanah tersebut dengan harga RM488 juta pada 2002.
PGCC direka bentuk oleh Asymptote Architecture - di bawah pimpinan Hani Rashid dan Lise Anne Coutur. Ia akan dibina di kawasan seluas 185 hektar (1.9 km persegi), menonjolkan dua menara ikonik - setiap satunya setinggi 200 meter (656 kaki). Menara ini akan mempunyai lengkung alir berterusan dengan permukaan lengkok habkur berkilat dan lut sinar. Ia akan mengambil masa sekurang-kurangnya 15 tahun untuk siap.
Kompleks membeli-belah: 384.953 sq. m. Pusat konvensyen: 95.174 sq. m. Pusat Seni Persembahan Pulau Pinang (PenPAC): 73.950 sq. m. Menara kondominium: 61. 718 sq. m. Hotel A dan perkhidmatan apartmen: 23.130 sq. m. Hotel B dan perkhidmatan apartmen: 25.725 sq. m. Pejabat: 22.530 sq. m. Balai cerap: 1,256 sq. m. Tempat letak kereta: 183,390 sq. m.
Pembangunan PGCC telah dikritik sebagai memperdaya dan tidak telus. Kontroversi ini akhirnya membawa kepada kempen boikot meluas. Petisyen, panji dan media digital lain dikancarkan oleh masyarakat setempat untuk meningkatkan kesedaran mengenai kesan pembangunan PGCC kepada umum.
Pada awal September 2007, beberapa pertubuhan bukan kerajaan (NGO) utama di Pulang Pinang bersatu untuk membentuk The PGCC Campaign Group bagi membantah pembangunan projek Penang Global City Centre (PGCC). Bagaimanapun, kumpulan ini menghadapi pencegahan siaran oleh media arus perdana.
Berikut merupakan beberapa kritikan mengenai PGCC yang diutarakan beberapa NGO dalam sidang akhbar bersama pada 15 September 2007:
Land Re-zoning The site of the project - the present Turf Club- was originally given by the government for a nominal sum and was zoned as 'Open Space'. This was changed very recently to 'Mixed Development', even though public opinion was unanimously against it (judging from the submissions sent in by the public during the 2007 Structure Plan exercise).
By doing so, the Penang State Govt has acted arbitrarily and sacrificed the interests of the community to a group of developers.
Traffic Congestion The project is so large that it will affect almost every person in Penang, but there has been very little public consultation. By our estimate, it will generate about 60,000 traffic movements daily which will be channeled into Jalan Scotland and Jalan Utama (via Jalan Brook).
The traffic dispersal plan for the project leaves much to be desired and we are asking for another traffic study by independent experts to be done before any decisions are made.
Public Consultation During the drawing up of the Penang Structure Plan, public consultation was minimal, perfunctory and the results were entirely ignored. Since a mega development is going to take place on the Turf Club land that is subjected to the Structure Plan, we would therefore call for a greater genuine public consultation due to the large size of this project.
The project was approved in Putrajaya, plans were finalised without any local inputs, and have now been publicly launched with much fanfare. That is not consultation. It smacks of an attempt to bulldoze aside all objections. It is a top-down planning of the worst type and is against all principles of participatory democracy.
Social Housing It is a national policy that all development must include 30% low-cost units, and yet none will be built on the site. Instead the developer is proposing to build 6,933 luxury units of apartments and houses on the site. However, the low cost units will be built elsewhere.
EIA Given the size of the project we would also ask for a detailed EIA to be done, as a preliminary study would not be sufficient to address all the issues that will arise.
Other than concerns raised by PGCC Campaign Group under joint press release. PGCC's developers also have been criticised for providing misleading facts such as:-
PGCC Eco Tech City Towards Zero Carbon City. . The developers have not backed their claims of a ‘zero carbon’ PGCC with any detailed statistics or scientific evidence, beyond very vague references to eco-friendly architecture and design. It is unclear whether they are including traffic emissions, or the pollution caused by the actual building of the city, which will last ten years or more
Brochures and official website . produced by the developer only showing the two iconic towers. Residential properties with over 37 buildings was not highlighted in any official publication by the developers. .
The Penang Island Municipal Council and the Penang state government have been reluctant to demand any public accountability or organise public hearings. None of the Penang citizens except for 16 representatives of the Residents Association of Jesselton were invited for a closed door meeting. The Penang State Local Government Committee chairman Datuk Dr Teng Hock Nan rejected the NGOs' proposal for public hearing. He claimed the council had already played its part in accordance with the law. Those present included MPPP president Datuk Zainal Rahim Seman, project developer Equine Capital Bhd executive chairman Datuk Patrick Lim and 16 representatives from the Residents Association of Jesselton.
PGCC Campaign Group:
12 September 2007: Pelancaran projek Penang Global City Centre(PGCC). 15 September 2007: enam pertubuhan bukan kerajaan Pulau Pinang datang menyokong pendirian pembangunan PGCC. 7 Oktober 2007: Forum Terbuka mengenai Implikasi PGCC ke atas Penangites diuruskan oleh PGCC Campaign Group - diadakan di Dewan Sri Pinang, Bilik A/B/C, 9.30am - 1.00pm. Sekurang-kurangnya 350 Penangites menghadiri forum itu.