Penang's Not so Golden Arches

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hi,

Has anyone been following the controversy over the arches in Penang's Botanical Gardens.

A while ago there was the comment from the Tourism Minister something like that the arches were part of the Federal Government's spending programme and it must be spent no matter if needed/wanted/liked or not.

Then the media reported that the 2 arches already built were being heavily criticised by folks in Penang, not least because one of the arches was leaning. There followed the comment that it wasn't leaning much and it would look straight once it was plastered up. Or was it that if you were plastered up it would look straight? Anyway these arches cost RM150,000.

Last week it was reported that the arches would be demolished.  Has anyone seen the arches? I would have thought that the leaning arches of Penang would have been a tourist attraction. Telok Intan has a leaning tower. Aren't Botanic Gardens supposed to have botany. 

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I did see the articles and some more detail is here



http://www.google.com.au/search?q=penang%20botanical%20garden%20arches&um=1&hl=en&safe=off&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENAU304&ndsp=21&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=iw

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Hi
I was in the subject matter gardens yesterday. As it was a Sunday morning it was quite busy wth walkers, joggers and of course the troops of monkeys. I still love them.
The arches are intersting to say the least. As the picture shows they are Moorish in appearance. They don't quite fit with the rest of the architecture which is largely functional and could do with some improvement.
If there was to be a redeeming feature a few fountains etc might save the look. Unfortunatley though they sit not in the gardens proper but in a newly sealed car park. Strange to the eyes but it is the failure to follow expected architecutral norms that one has come to expect and love.
Could this be Penang's version of the bridge to nowhere!!

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Could salvage some of the expenses by recycling them for alternate uses eg connecting cables between the 2 monsters, younsgters can have some fun gliding from end to end and have the company of the monkeys, too

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hi,

Could this be Penang's version of the bridge to nowhere!!

Hee Hee.       Bridge to Nowhere, and Arches to Nothing. Government allocation to spend. It's a slow Monday. 

Thanks, folks, for the photo. I won't bother to put these arches on my must-see list for Penang. Of course if they were plastic, coconut-tree shaped, fluorescent purple, and they lit-up at night, then they could be simply moved to here in Perak where such items are very much in vogue. Anyway, by the time I get up there they may very well be gone. As will the older cable car, and the mid-point station. Why doesn't Tourism et al understand the concept of the journey being as much a part of the event as the arrival? Getting off mid-way and changing was a highlight. The longer this particular journey the better. Oh, well . . .   other places, other adventures.

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Those arches are hideous! That is something they will put up in Melaka! I am glad they are taking them down. It's a shame the govt always spend the money without proper planning and public consultation.

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hi,

After spending a reported RM150,000 to build, and rM80,000 to demolish the nondescript leaning arches, the Tourism Ministry seems to have got the message that a botanical gardens is (a) botanical, and (b) a garden. They're planting lilies.

September 10, 2010 : World’s largest water lily in Penang Soon
GEORGE TOWN: The Botanic Gardens here will soon house the world’s largest water lily (Victoria Amazonica) under the Tourism Ministry’s RM7mil beautification and expansion project.

The giant plant, with leaves measuring up to 3m in diameter, will be placed in a new lily pond at the gardens, said Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen.

“Penangites didn’t want the arch so we took it down. And in its place we will have a lily pond,” she said, adding that the project would be completed in November.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/9/10/nation/7011622&sec=nation


With RM7M to spend I guess the arches were just write-off chicken feed.