Macallum Street Ghaut

Macallum Street Ghaut Gat Lebuh Macallum
Neighbourhood of George Town
Macallum Street Ghaut Location within    George Town in    Penang
Coordinates: 5°24′22.7658″N100°19′57.5898″E / 5.406323833°N 100.332663833°E / 5.406323833; 100.332663833
Country	Malaysia
State	Penang
City	George Town
District	Northeast
Founded	1985
Time zone	UTC+8 (MST)
• Summer (DST)	Not observed
Postal code	10300

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]}

History

In 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

• Rifle Range, Penang

References

1. Penang: Looking Back, Looking Ahead, 20 Years of Progress. George Town: Penang Development Corporation. 1990. p. 34. ISBN   983996951X.
2. Moroter, Tanushalini (2 Jan 2020). "New lifts bring comfort and cheers to Macallum Street Ghaut residents". Buletin Mutiara. Retrieved 5 Apr 2024.
3. "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.
4. Penang Past and Present, 1786-1963. George Town: George Town City Council. 1966. pp. 98–99.
5. Jenkins, Gwynn (2008). Contested Space: Cultural Heritage and Identity Reconstructions : Conservation Strategies Within a Developing Asian City. LIT Verlag Münster. ISBN   9783825813666.