BM Hill's broken bridge: gone!

Two weeks can make a lot of difference. When I used the track at the foothills of the Bukit Mertajam hill on 27 Feb 2009, this broken-down bridge was still standing as a monument to the State Forestry Department's indifference to their roles and responsibilities in maintaining the forest parks around Penang. This broken "bridge to no where" had spanned the forest park for at least five years by my estimation and nothing was ever done to repair it.


Last Friday when I used the hill track again - after a break of two weeks - I had a funny feeling that my view of the park was not the way it looked before. Somehow, the foothills looked much brighter. Then the reason became clear: the broken bridge was gone. All traces of it has been removed. Before me, I could see the little hut perched above. For such a gargantuan structure to be dismantled and the place left clean, I wonder who could have done it? The forestry department? Maybe. Some private sector initiative? Maybe too. But for the moment, I have no answer.


Regardless, I'm quite happy that the eye-sore has been removed. It could be a danger to people using the hill track too. I'll be quite satisfied if nothing new is built to replace the bridge. It's better to return the forest park to nature. But all the same, I'm only hoping that something will be done now to repair this dangerous broken-down footpath. This is equally dangerous: the footpath's already partially collapsed and close to collapse even further due to water erosion.