Macallum Street Ghaut is a residential neighbourhood within the city of George Town in the Malaysian state of Penang. Situated within the city's central business district, it comprises seven blocks of low-cost public housing built on reclaimed land off Macallum Street, known as the Macallum Street Ghaut flats.[1][2] The first apartment blocks were completed in 1985, and they remain among the few formalised low-cost housing areas in the vicinity of the city's UNESCO World Heritage Site.[1][3]
Macallum Street Ghaut | |
|---|---|
Neighbourhood of George Town | |
| Other transcription(s) | |
| • Malay | Gat Lebuh Macallum (Rumi) |
| • Mandarin | 五条路海墘 (Simplified) 五條路海墘 (Traditional) Wǔtiáo lù hǎi qián (Pinyin) |
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.svg)  Macallum Street Ghaut | |
| Coordinates: 5°24′22.7658″N 100°19′57.5898″E / 5.406323833°N 100.332663833°E | |
| Country |  Malaysia |
| State |  Penang |
| City |  George Town |
| Founded | 1985 |
| Government | |
| • Local government | Penang Island City Council |
| • Mayor of Penang Island | Rajendran P. Anthony |
| • Pengkalan Kota State Assemblyman | Wong Yuee Harng (DAP) |
| • Tanjong Member of Parliament | Lim Hui Ying (DAP) |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (MST) |
| • Summer (DST) | Not observed |
| Postal code | 10300 |
| Website | mbpp |
History
editIn the years following Malaya's independence, the Penang state government expressed interest in developing low-cost public housing. This brought the state government into conflict with the George Town City Council over the provision of affordable housing within the limits of George Town.[4] In 1969, the Penang Development Corporation (PDC) was formed under the direction of newly elected Chief Minister Lim Chong Eu, partly to address the issue of urban overcrowding within the city.[5]
As part of the solution, Macallum Street Ghaut (ghat) was designated one of the four Comprehensive Development Areas (CDA) in the city proper.[5] The PDC planned to reclaim 20.2 hectares (50 acres) off Macallum Street to build inexpensive European-style apartment blocks to house residents displaced by the concurrent Komtar project nearby.[1][5] The Macallum Street Ghaut flats were the first public housing project undertaken by the PDC, to be followed by similar projects at Kedah Road and Bayan Baru.[1]
By 1985, three 22-storey blocks and two 12-storey blocks containing a total of 1,469 residential units were completed.[1] In total, seven apartment blocks were constructed and remain a major inhabited residential pocket at the periphery of George Town's UNESCO World Heritage Site, in spite of the continuing depopulation of the city centre.[2][3]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d e Penang: Looking Back, Looking Ahead, 20 Years of Progress. George Town: Penang Development Corporation. 1990. p. 34. ISBN 983996951X.
- ^ a b Moroter, Tanushalini (2 Jan 2020). "New lifts bring comfort and cheers to Macallum Street Ghaut residents". Buletin Mutiara. Retrieved 5 Apr 2024.
- ^ a b "George Town World Heritage Site: Population and Land Use Census 2009—2019" (PDF). Think City. 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
- ^ Penang Past and Present, 1786-1963. George Town: George Town City Council. 1966. pp. 98–99.
- ^ a b c Jenkins, Gwynn (2008). Contested Space: Cultural Heritage and Identity Reconstructions : Conservation Strategies Within a Developing Asian City. LIT Verlag Münster. ISBN 9783825813666.