Penang Town Hall to get RM8m makeover
GEORGE TOWN: The 140-year-old Town Hall building, located in the heritage enclave here, will undergo a makeover to restore the Category 1 heritage building to its glorious past.
At a cost of RM8 million, the restoration work will take about 18 months to complete.
State Local Government Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo said the restoration included the building’s infrastructure, roof, floor, staircase and wall, as well as repainting and rearranging its interior.
He said these would be carried out while adhering to the heritage guidelines set following George Town’s recognition as a Unesco World Heritage Site since 2008.
“I am happy to stand here this morning to announce yet another major restoration work to one of the state’s important landmarks.
“It is my hope to return after 18 months to celebrate the building’s restoration. It has always been the state government’s commitment to seriously preserve Category 1 heritage buildings here,” he said outside the Town Hall building yesterday.
Present was Penang Island City Council Mayor Datuk Yew Tung Seang.
The building was initially a British-built administrative building, located adjacent to the City Hall. Completed in the 1880s, the Town Hall is the city’s oldest municipal building, and once housed the Municipal Commission of George Town. It also functioned as a venue for social events for European elites.
Its administrative function was taken over by the City Hall upon the latter’s completion in 1903.
The Town Hall has been gazetted by the Malaysian National Museum as a historic monument since 1993, and was used as one of the filming locations for the 1999 film, Anna and the
King.
Jagdeep said the restoration work was part of a development under the North Seafront Project.
Yew said the project was important to boost the local economy, which had been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.