BY LO TERN CHERN
Cause for concern: The hill with its bare rock top and slope can be seen above houses in Taman Intan Delima, which is near Kampung Masjid, Batu Kawan.
NIBONG TEBAL: Villagers claim that quarrying and hillslope earthworks by the Penang Development Corporation (PDC) near Kampung Masjid here are making life miserable for them.
They complain that the works are causing the walls of their homes to crack and driving wild animals from the hill into their village.
Resident Ramlah Md Akib, 66, said the hill had become a slope of bare rocks and the animals had lost their habitat.
“Monkeys and snakes often enter our houses. We frequently see wild boar in our village, too,” she said, adding that works, which began in 2008, had intensified in the past two years.
Federal Village Security and Development Committee chairman Abdul Halim Othman said villagers started to worry when the walls of some of the 44 houses here began cracking.
“Vibration from the quarry’s rock blasting caused the cracks. When it rains, muddy water would flow through our village and it’s dusty on dry days,” he said, claiming that contractors who came to inspect the damage only did minor repairs.
Abdul Halim said villagers were also worried that soil erosion could cause rocks to topple from the hill above the homes.
Another resident, Saniyah Hussain, 47, said she was disappointed that PDC had not consulted the villagers before beginning work.
She also claimed that residents had met the contractor, PDC Nusabina Sdn Bhd, to discuss compensation but this was not fulfilled.
“We signed an agreement in December that we would be paid RM100 in compensation a month per house for the dust,” she said, claiming that payment had not been regular.
A check by The Star revealed that the hilltop above the village had been scraped clean of trees, exposing piles of rocks on the peak.
When contacted, Batu Kawan MP Kasthuri Patto said she had visited both the quarry and hillslope works earlier this year with local authorities and was told that the projects had followed specifications.
“These projects lay the path for more future development.
“I will meet the villagers soon to understand their concerns,” she said.
