Story and photo by SAZALI M. NOOR
KUALA TERENGGANU: Terengganu People’s Solidarity Council has slammed Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said for being nonchalant about the predicament faced by owners of 35 pre-war buildings in Jalan Bandar and Jalan Banggol here.
Council president Fauzi Abu Samah said the Mentri Besar should listen to the owners’ grievances before deciding to demolish the buildings that were part of the city’s heritage.
“He (the Mentri Besar) said the demolition was to pave the way for Kuala Terengganu’s facelift to complement its status as a city,
“Perhaps, he should go on a walkabout in the city to see how many more dilapidated structures that are in a worse condition than these rows of buildings marked out for demolition,” said Fauzi after leading a peaceful demonstration in Jalan Banggol participated by 50 of the owners and occupants recently.
He said the state government should embark on efforts to preserve these old buildings.
“At least keep the facade of the buildings if the state is still eager to go ahead with the redevelopment project on both these streets,” he added.
Fauzi said the earlier agreements made between the state government and the owners in the 1990s should be considered obsolete since the latter had not been allocated an alternative commercial site as promised.
“In the agreement signed during the time of former Mentri Besar Tan Sri Wan Mokthar Wan Ahmad, the owners were promised alternative site for them to continue with their businesses.
“Unfortunately, now they have not been allocated any building.
“The current Mentri Besar is probably unaware of the clauses in the agreement,” he said.
Fauzi added that the state government had issued a 30-day evacuation notice, with Aug 13 stated as the deadline.
Earlier, Ahmad had said that the state government would go ahead in demolishing the pre-war buildings.
The Mentri Besar said the owners, who were mainly traders, had been given sufficient notice to make way for the redevelopment of both areas.
He added that the state government had paid out compensation to most of the traders because the redevelopment project had been earmarked since the 1990s.
Following appeals, the business proprietors have been given a grace period of another month, and they have up until Raya to move out.-The Star
