Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng announced today that the hill station would go through “reconceptioneering and reimagineering — where new facilities would be built — to make it different and more up to date according to modern trends”.
“As it is, Penang Hill has nothing much to offer; this will brighten it up. And we will do it in accordance with environmental guidelines,” he told reporters at a press conference here.
Lim said tender documents for the project can be bought during the site visit on August 9.
“Those who do not go for the site visit would not be able to buy the tender documents,” he said, adding that the closing date for tender submission is August 30.
Also present at the press conference was Jimmy Lim, the prominent architect who will undertake this project.
Jimmy said that while Penang Hill has one of the most pristine natural forests, it had nothing to offer to visitors.
He said Penang Hill would be “revamped and repackaged to make it hip and cool so more young people will go there”.
He said the project would adopt a very different approach by putting up new facilities that are “ecologically sustainable for people to enjoy themselves”.
Among others, he said, a new visitors’ centre would be build on top of the hill where the current hawker centre is located.
“And down the slope, we will have a terrace concept for eateries to be placed,” he said, adding that no excavation would be done to build the new facilities.
The new visitors’ centre and the terrace would be built using natural materials such as timber and bamboo to make it environmental-friendly.
He also suggested ways to make the hill station a much more attractive place to visit.
“There are many old trees on the hill. We can get corporate bodies to adopt these trees and put signage on them to let visitors know about the details of the trees,” he said.
“The buildings on the hill were last painted on 1975. With the new impetus and plans, maintenance will be a new ball game,” he added.
