theSun | FRIDAY NOVEMBER 21 2008
After tennis,
cycling event
faces problem
by Tim Leonard
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
AFTER the ‘Kings of Tennis’
debacle in Penang, another
national sporting event is in
danger of postponement if it
does not find a title sponsor
soon.
The 2009 edition of Jelajah
Malaysia cycling expedition,
initially slated for Jan 11-18
next year, has been postponed
as the organisers have yet to
secure a sponsor and sort out its
financial problems.
Although the budget to run
the event is only a mere RM4
million, its postponement has
cast a shadow of gloom over the
new cycling season.
However, unlike the Kings of
Tennis tournament which did
not see the light of the day, the
organisers of Jelajah Malaysia,
Ten Speed Events Sdn Bhd, has
vowed to get their act back on
track and start the 2009 edition
in April next year.
Ten Speed Events executive
‘Rules on high-rises should
have been in place long ago’
by Bernard Cheah
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
THE guidelines on high-rise struc-
tures in George Town’s Unesco-
listed heritage zone should have
been enforced long before the
town was awarded with the
status, says the Penang
Heritage Trust.
Its president Dr
Choong Sim Poey (pix)
said it had raised the
issue with the Pen-
ang Island Municipal
Council (MPPP) about
10 years ago.
“MPPP should
have known that the
state government was
applying for the heritage
listing, and they should have
implemented the guidelines by
then,” he told theSun.
He added that if MPPP had
implemented the guidelines
earlier, the four high-rises, which
are all hotel buildings, constructed
within the heritage zone, would
Penang Hill rail service to resume
in mid-December
AFTER almost six months of being
out of service due to damaged
cables, the Penang Hill funicular
train service is expected to resume
in mid-December.
State public works, utilities and
transportation committee chairman
Lim Hock Seng said the state gov-
ernment had purchased RM600,000
worth of cables to replace the faulty
ones.
Once the cable arrives, it is
expected to take around a week
15
chairman Datuk Astaman
Abdul Aziz, when met by
reporters at the KL Cycling
Carnival at Dataran Merdeka,
said: “We have failed for now …
but come rain or shine in April,
we will organise it”.
Jelajah Malaysia 2009,
operating on a lengthened route
of eight stages, is sanctioned by
the Malaysian National Cycling
Foundation (MNCF).
It was reported that MNCF
deputy president Datuk Naim
Mohamad had met Astaman
recently to sort out the various
issues plaguing the company.
Astaman had reportedly
asked for two weeks to find a
sponsor and Naim had advised
him that the event should be
postponed until June next year
if nothing materialises within
the next two weeks.
It is learnt that Ten Speed
Events was given a three-year
contract to host the event
from 2007 and the contract is
subject to review after the 2009
edition.
not have been approved.
“If the guidelines were used
back then, these developers
could have been informed of the
proper structural height and other
conditions they need to comply
with before their projects are ap-
proved“ Choong said.
The state government
had announced a five-
storey restriction for
new buildings back
in 1996 but the pro-
hibition was not fully
enforced.
It was reported
recently that the
new high-rise struc-
tures will no longer be
legally possible in the
Unesco-listed heritage
zone when the state en-
codes a new set of rules prohibit-
ing tall buildings by year-end.
Based on the guidelines
drafted by the state government,
new buildings must not exceed
a height of 18m (or about five-
storeys).
for the repairs to complete and
the funicular train service should
be up and running just before the
Christmas holidays, he added.
Lim said earlier, the state
government had applied to the
federal government to include the
cable purchase under the approved
RM40 million upgrading project but
the application was rejected as the
upgrading project will take at least
another 18 months and the state
government cannot wait that long.