The termination of the Melaka Gateway project has not been a surprise to most people in Melaka. Everyone knows that the project’s viability has been questionable. Everyone knows that the project has not progressed well despite the grand announcements and marketing over the years.
The most unfortunate thing is the damage that Melaka Gateway has caused to Melaka. Primarily, the impact on our natural environment, especially the sea front, is huge and irrevocable. The communities living along the coastline, such as the fishermen, have complained about this for many years, but the state government has turned a deaf ear.
The impact on the economy will also be there. Investor’s confidence will be affected as this project has been heavily promoted by the former federal government and state government under BN.
The bigger question that the state government should address is on the nature of our state’s development: what kind of development do we want in Melaka?
Melaka in the past decade has focused on real estate and projects such as Melaka Gateway. We have too many development projects on condominiums and malls for such a small state. These have now proven to be unsustainable as several has closed down and many are struggling to stay afloat.
We must realise that all these unsustainable developments have a long term impact on the lives of the people. In fact, the effect is now showing: under the new Household Income Survey 2019 and revised poverty line index, Melaka is one of the two states in Malaysia which has an increase in absolute poverty, from 2.6% in 2016 to 3.9% in 2019.
We should aim for sustainable and wholistic development that focuses on people’s wellbeing, as well as the environment.
For example: build more parks, develop a good public transportation system, invest in the agriculture sector, and focus on getting investments in the manufacturing sector which will create more and better jobs for the people.
On another note, the developer has said that they were caught by the surprised announcement and was not informed before hand. They also said that the state government has refused to meet them to discuss. I think the least the state government can do is to meet and talk to them before coming to any decision. This is a basic role of any government, i.e. to listen and discuss with stakeholders, and not to make unilateral decisions.
