GEORGE TOWN: The state government has found itself in a catch 22 situation – jeopardise George Town’s Unesco World Heritage Site status or run the risk of being sued for hundreds of millions by developers.

The crisis centres on the building of four high-rise hotels in the heritage core and buffer zones which violate the guidelines approved by the World Heritage Committee (WHC).

An artist’s impression of the Rice Miller boutique hotel which will be built in Weld Quay, George Town. It is one of four projects to be carried out in the island’s heritage zone, a move that could threaten Penang’s World Heritage Site listing.

Under stringent heritage guidelines sent to the committee in August 2007, a maximum height of 18m or roughly five storeys was set for new buildings in the two zones.

“The guidelines were not made widely known when they were first put in place. Only when George Town’s Unesco status was approved did we realise the guidelines,” Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said after a dialogue session with the Heritage Steering Committee’s

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Advisory Panel yesterday.

“Now, we’re caught in a conundrum. If we allow the buildings to go ahead, we may risk the status, but if we stop the buildings, we could be sued for hundreds of millions which will definitely bankrupt the local council.

“We’re damned if we do, and damned if we don’t.”

The four hotels are the Rice Miller boutique hotel in Weld Quay and the Boustead Royale Bintang Hotel project behind the General Post Office in Lebuh Downing, both lying in the heritage core zone, and the E&O Hotel extension and 23-storey hotel in Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah by the Low Yat Group in the buffer zone, both of which will be 84.4m high.

Lim said three of the four hotels were approved by the previous state administration while the Boustead building was approved on June 26, less than two weeks before the Unesco status was granted.

He said the state was now looking to the Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry for direction.

“Although the state wants to take active measures to alleviate the problem, we cannot plunge in recklessly. The legal situation has to be studied carefully and it does not seem to favour us.”

Unesco regional adviser for the Asia-Pasific Dr Richard Engelhardt, who was present at the dialogue, said George Town had no choice but to follow the guidelines approved by the WHC.

“When the status is approved, the guidelines trump all previous existing regulations. Why would you apply for the status if there was no intention of following the guidelines?

“If the state decides to go along with the high-rises, I’m sure it will be called up by the WHC to explain why it allowed such a thing and whether it is compatible with the preservation of heritage,” he said.

“The worst-case scenario is that George Town is delisted, but that is not the usual situation as when a site applies for World Heritage status, it is interested in preserving the heritage,” he added.

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