Welcome to my historic geocaching tour of the Georgetown UNESCO Heritage waterfront, from the Esplanade to the Clan Jetties (or vice versa). I hope you enjoy a nice walk, learn some history and enjoy another Geocaching adventure!
Church Street Pier was created in 1897 as one of the several places along George Town's coastline for small vessels to dock. At the time, the Port of Penang was booming as one of the major entrepôts of British Malaya alongside the Port of Singapore, and thus, the Penang Channel was very crowded. For instance, it was reported in 1879 that over 1,000 vessels were counted around the Port in one 24-hour period.
Built at a cost of $48,889 (Straits dollar), Church Street Pier was also utilized by the Penang Harbor Board for its ferry services to the town of Butterworth.
With the decline of the Port of Penang towards the end of the 20th century, the number of vessels that called off Penang Island dwindled; to the point where the piers that lined George Town's eastern coast, including Church Street Pier, eventually closed down. The diminishing trade, coupled with George Town's simultaneous decay, led to questions regarding the future of these harbour facilities, as well as the city's waterfront in general.
Entrance to Tanjong City Marina
In the early 2000s, the Malaysian federal government embarked on a RM43 million project to revitalize Church Street Pier and turn it into a world-class marina. Completed in 2005, the Tanjong City Marina was equipped with 102 berths ranging from 11 meters long to 50 meters and could accommodate up to 140 yachts and boats of various sizes. The marina was able to cater to vessels with maximum draft of up to 4 meters.
Although the marina initially succeeded in attracting yachting communities from all over Southeast Asia, by 2011, its floating structures had deteriorated and were in danger of sinking. Since then, Tanjong City Marina has been abandoned, with its berths lost to the sea. To date, Penang Port Sdn. Bhd., which is under the Malaysian federal government, continues to shift the responsibility of restoring the marina to the Penang state government, even though it was built entirely by the Malaysian federal government within federal government land.
As you can see with all the construction plans are ongoing to revitalise George Town's eastern waterfront to create a seafront promenade between the Esplanade and the Clan Jetties south of Church Street Pier.
Geocache: This geocache is located out on the street due to construction. Beware of muggles!