.jpg "Demonstrators protest against the proposed alignment of the Light Rail Transit project over the site of Masjid Jamek Sungai Nibong Besar at Komtar June 28, 2019. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Sayuti Zainudin")
GEORGE TOWN, June 28 — The proposed alignment for the Light Rail Transit (LRT) project will not be crossing over the Sungai Nibong Besar Mosque or its adjoining Muslim cemetery, Penang Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Ahmad Zakiyuddin Abd Rahman said.
He said the state Islamic religious council had in a meeting agreed that the LRT be aligned with the Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah flyover.
“It was agreed that the LRT alignment will not enter even a little bit on the cemetery or mosque, either on the land or the air space above it,” he told a press conference in Komtar today even as a group of NGOs held a peaceful demonstration on the ground floor of Komtar.
He said the cemetery had encroached by 2.5m outside the wakaf land but the LRT alignment would not pass by that site too.
He also reassured the protestors and the mosque committee that the Public Works Department (PWD) was asked to continue with the construction of the new mosque as planned.
“According to the original construction schedule, the foundation works for the mosque will start in the middle of August and the PWD has confirmed that there will not be any disruption to the construction of the mosque,” he said.
Earlier, groups of Muslim non-governmental NGOs led by Mohd Sophian Mohd Zain, from Persatuan Kebajikan Surplus Pulau Pinang, held a demonstration on the ground floor of Komtar against the alignment of the LRT.
They had also demanded for works on the construction of the new mosque to start immediately.
The Sungai Nibong Besar Mosque was one of the oldest mosques and is being rebuilt after it was demolished last month.
Last week, Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow had explained that the LRT alignment is yet to be confirmed as it is still in the proposal stage.
