GEORGE TOWN, March 25 — The Penang government will establish a joint-venture (JV) company with SRS Consortium to carry out reclamation works under phase one of the Penang South Reclamation (PSR) project.

Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said this was following the state executive council meeting which had decided that the reclamation works at Island A will be implemented through a partnership.

He said with this announcement, preliminary survey and soil investigation works will start on Monday, March 29, and would take three months. 

"For implementation via partnership approach, two joint-venture companies will be established, namely project developer and turnkey contractor, wherein the interest of the state government will be represented by Penang Infrastructure Corporation Sdn Bhd.

"Partnership shareholding of the state government and SRS is 30:70 and SRS will finance all equity capital and manage the loans needed to fulfil all its obligations in the project development,” he told reporters here today.

Elaborating further, Chow said the development of Island A would not be implemented under the Project Delivery Partner (PDP) model but instead a supplementary agreement would be signed to incorporate the changes to the project implementation approach.

"The development in Island A would be the economic catalyst for Island B and Island C in the future.” 

The first phase of the project spans 485.62 hectares out of the total 930.78 hectares of land in Island A, PSR.

He said the state government does not need to fork out any fund for the joint-venture company and the implementation of the works was awarded to the turnkey contractor who would appoint Gamuda Engineering for the reclamation works under Phase 1.

"The appointment of Gamuda Engineering is as a guarantee that the reclamation works will proceed as planned, including to slow down reclamation works if there is a lack of demand for land in Island A and vice versa,” he said.

Under the PSR project, the state government has proposed a development project to reclaim 1,821 hectares of the sea area, including the construction of  three islands in the southern area of the Penang International Airport to the waters of Permatang Damar Laut. — Bernama