Paya Terubong landslide: developer told to map risky slopes

The Penang Island City Council (MBPP) has ordered the developer and consultant of a hillside condominium project in Paya Terubong to prepare a site inspection report, after a landslide below the site killed a 73-year-old doctor on 25 October 2026. State local government committee chairman H'ng Mooi Lye said on 30 October that the report must map the risky slope areas and set out mitigation plans. Work on the project has been stopped since the landslide.

What MBPP has ordered

• Report: a site inspection report with maps of the risky slope areas and mitigation plans
• Erosion control: an amended erosion and sediment control plan based on the site's present condition, plus temporary stabilisation works
• Water: divert runoff away from the top of the slope with temporary drains, check existing drains for overflows and leaks, and cover exposed slopes with geotextiles or other temporary protection
• Earlier orders: an immediate stop-work order, and seven days for the developer to submit a mitigation plan

The Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) has been investigating since 26 October. MBPP mayor A. Rajendran said it will call in all parties and take legal action if it finds negligence.

The landslide

• When and where: at about 8.36am on Sunday 25 October, the slope behind a row of houses in Taman Seri Rambai collapsed onto the home of Dr Wong Kar Lin. His wife and mother-in-law escaped
• Residents: six families had to move out. The developer has offered them hotel rooms until their homes are declared safe
• Early findings: Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the slide happened on the developer's land, on a section where slope stabilisation had not yet been done. Days of rain seeped into the soil and added to its load. He said only the full reports can confirm the cause

The project

• Buildings: two apartment towers, one of 783 units on 35 levels and one of 887 units on 34 levels, 1,670 units in all, over eight lower-ground and two above-ground levels of car parks, facilities, shops and a management office, according to the construction board
• Type: described by the local assemblyman as affordable housing, with a new road
• History: first approved in 1996. It began as six-storey townhouses and changed several times. Chow said the landowner, the developer and the planning guidelines all changed before the latest approval in 2023
• Objections: residents have fought the plans since 2015 and took them to the state Appeals Board between 2015 and 2017. Paya Terubong assemblyman Wong Hon Wai said the residents and developer reached an agreement with conditions, including building setbacks
• Approvals: the mayor said consultants, MBPP, DOSH and the Minerals and Geoscience Department all assessed the project before approval

Officials have not named the developer.

Calls for action

• Inquiry: Sahabat Alam Malaysia asked for a state commission of inquiry, like the one held after the 2017 Tanjung Bungah landslide that killed 11. H'ng said the state will wait for DOSH's findings first
• Earlier warnings: Kam Suan Pheng of Penang Hills Watch said the slope near the houses was cemented again and again from 2018 to this year, a sign it was already unstable
• All hillside sites: Chow told MBPP and the Seberang Perai City Council to step up monitoring of hillside projects during the rainy season, and said some work could be paused
• Developers: at the Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association (REHDA) Penang dinner on 30 October, Chow said developers must stop hillside work immediately at any sign of a safety risk, and that safety is a basic condition of every project, not an add-on to its approval