Petition Opposes 40-Storey Tower On Langkawi's Dropstone Geosite
Residents and an NGO have petitioned against a rezoning that would allow a 40-storey tower on Bukit Tanjung Mali, the hill behind Pantai Cenang levelled this year — until recently a geologically protected site within Langkawi's UNESCO Global Geopark.
A Change.org petition titled “SAYANG LANGKAWI,” started by the Dodo Project and Persatuan Social Budaya, Alam dan Warisan Langkawi, is calling on authorities to reject a proposed rezoning of Bukit Tanjung Mali from forest to commercial land. The change, listed as Pengubahan 14 in the Draft Langkawi Local Plan 2030, would clear the way for Tanjong Mali Development Sdn Bhd to build a 40-storey tower on the hill — land that, until the excavation seen in these photos, held protected status as part of Langkawi's UNESCO Global Geopark.
The hill was known to geologists as the Dropstone geosite, named for glacial dropstones embedded in its Singa Formation rock, dated to roughly 300 million years ago. The petitioners' central objection is that this geological record — one of the features cited in Langkawi's original UNESCO Geopark designation — has already been irreversibly destroyed by levelling this year, and that flat land remains available nearby in the same neighbourhood without clearing a protected hill to build on.
The proposed tower would rise on the same stretch of Jalan Pantai Cenang already reshaped by Tropicana Corp's Assana, Merissa and Clarissa towers and the long-delayed Hilton Nautilus, developments Langkawi News has covered in earlier reporting on the island's shift toward larger-scale hotel and residential construction. A public hearing on the local plan change — a Jawatankuasa Siasatan Tempatan dan Pendengaran Awam session — was held 8 September, with residents and objectors attending to register their opposition in person.
Opposition has been building since an earlier version of the proposal was first made public, drawing a beach protest gathering earlier this year at which residents held up printed copies of the project plans in front of the under-construction towers. Kedah state EXCO Mejar (B) Mansor Zakaria, whose portfolio covers local government and housing, has so far declined to comment on the objections when asked.
Langkawi Channel, which reports on the island alongside Langkawi News, first raised the Dropstone site's geological history and the changes under way there in a reel published 19 May: watch the Langkawi Channel reel. The SAYANG LANGKAWI petition remains open for signatures as the local plan amendment moves through the approval process — sign the SAYANG LANGKAWI petition.