GEORGE TOWN, April 26 — Sahabat Alam Malaysia and the Penang Fishermen’s Association (PenMutiara) will continue objecting against the massive Penang South Reclamation (PSR) project.
PenMutiara deputy chairman Zakaria Ismail said the group will submit an appeal to the Appeals Board of the Department of Environment (DoE) against the project.
“We will make preparations to submit an appeal, we believe there is still room for us to appeal against it,” he said.
Earlier today, Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow announced that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the PSR project has been approved by the DoE.
Chow said the reclamation works will start in the third quarter of this year, once the DoE approved the environmental management plan (EMP).
The EMP outlines the state’s strategy to comply with the 71 conditions imposed for the approval of the EIA.
“At this moment, the state government will still need to obtain approval for the EMP and the 71 conditions are not easy to be met, so we can still try to stop the project,” Zakaria said.
SAM secretary S. Mageswari expressed her disappointment in the federal government for ignoring food security, environmental integrity and the negative and long-term impacts that will be caused by the reclamation.
“This carbon-intensive and capital-intensive reclamation project runs contrary to today’s planning imperative which calls for climate-resilient development,” she said in a statement issued today.
She called on the DoE director-general to be transparent and explain the grounds for his decision.
“The Penang state government must make public the 71 conditions which have been imposed,” she said, adding that SAM will maintain its opposition to the project.
“The state and federal government are exacerbating environmental and social injustice by proceeding with the reclamation project.”
She said SAM, as a member of the EIA Technical Review Committee (EIATRC), had raised its objections against the project in support of the fishing community as well as concerns over the environment.
“We are appalled that the project has been approved despite concerns and objections raised by fishermen including PenMutiara, the official fishermen’s association and the Persatuan Nelayan Kawasan Selatan Pulau Pinang (PNKSPP) and all the units of the fishermen villages here,” she said.
She said other agencies in the EIATRC such as the Fisheries Department, Lembaga Kemajuan Ikan Malaysia (LKIM), and the Fisheries Research Institute also raised their concerns that the reclamation will affect the fisheries sector, fishermen’s livelihoods and food security.
She said the site of the reclamation has high marine biodiversity and, apart from that, there was also the impact of sourcing for sand and other fill materials such as rocks.
“The proposed project consisting of three reclaimed islands with a total area of 4,500 acres (1,821.1 hectares) requires fill material estimated at 207,000,000 cubic metres,” she said.
She said the total rock volume required for the construction of revetment as edge protection of the reclaimed islands is 4,500,000 cubic metres.
“Our call that the environmental impacts of sourcing the sand and rocks must be included as cumulative impacts of the PSR-related activities was also negated,” she said.
The PSR, also known as Penang South Islands (PSI), project is a massive reclamation project to create three islands, measuring a total 4,500 acres, off the southern coast of Penang island.
Island A will measure 2,300 acres, Island B will measure 1,400 acres, and Island C will measure 800 acres.
Chow had said Island A will be reclaimed first once the EMP is approved.
