GEORGE TOWN, Feb 24 — Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng gave an assurance today that a planned land reclamation project at the Gurney Drive seafront will include measures to mitigate any potential tsunami incident that the island state may face in the future.

He said the mitigation measures have been incorporated in the design of the reclamation project.

“The platform levels of the land to be reclaimed is higher than the waves of the 2004 tsunami which hit shores at +4.2 metres,” he said when he released a list of answers to frequently asked questions over the proposed Gurney Wharf project announced yesterday.

The existing Gurney Drive now sits at the level of +3.2 metres chart datum (CD) while the platform levels of the reclaimed land will be at +5, +5.5 and +6 metres.

The state government had proposed a park on the sea Gurney Wharf project for part of the 131 acres land reclamation project off the Gurney Drive seafront.

Lim also reiterated that the reclaimed land will belong to the state government even though the reclamation project is undertaken by Tanjung Pinang Development Sdn Bhd (TPD), a subsidiary of Eastern & Oriental Berhad (E&O).

The proposed plans for Gurney Wharf is on exhibition now at Level Two of Komtar here to gather public feedback on the project.

“The reclamation package for Phase 2A of Seri Tanjung Pinang Phase 2 and 131 acres along the Gurney Drive are estimated to cost RM1.035 billion,” Lim said.

He added that E&O will bear the entire reclamation costs while the state government will bear the costs of developing Gurney Wharf.

“After the feedback exercise on the project, we will determine the other practical elements of the project including how Gurney Wharf will be financed,” he said.

The state government announced the proposed project yesterday with details of the project made available publicly at the exhibition in Komtar and at Gurney Plaza from Friday onwards.

The list of frequently asked questions will be made available on a website on the project which will be launched soon.

Gurney Wharf is expected to be completed in mid-2018.