NGOs studying legal avenues to stop Penang South Reclamation project

GEORGE TOWN – Two sister non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are looking at legal avenues to prevent state authorities from proceeding with the Penang South Reclamation (PSR) project.

The plan is to reclaim the largest island parcel dubbed Silicon Island off Permatang Damar Laut – a fertile ground for fishing.

Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) president Meenashki Raman said in a brief text message that SAM would look into the legal avenues it could pursue.

Meenashki was among a panel of lawyers who won a reprieve against the PSR project by successfully arguing that the project would cause more damage than good for the island’s ecological system, not to mention the alleged depletion of the seafood resources here.

“We will see (what we can legally do),” said Meenashki when contacted.

The Appeals Board under the Environment Department (DoE) allowed for the project’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to be withdrawn but last year, it okayed the revised version of the EIA, which was submitted by the project delivery partner – SRS Consortium.

Recently, Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow released a statement that after getting approval for the environmental management plan (EMP), preliminary work on the Silicon Valley can get underway off the shores of Bayan Lepas here.

Both SAM and its affiliate the Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) subsequently released a joint statement, saying both organisations were appealing to the federal and state governments not to proceed with the PSR project.

The undersigners were CAP president Mohideen Abdul Kader and Mageswari Sangaralingam, the honorary secretary of SAM.

“We deeply regret to learn that the state has just revealed that work on the project will start after the EMP was approved by the DoE in July.”

“We wish to know if the state government has obtained the planning permission to commence the project under the Town and Country Planning Act 1976.

“This is a legal requirement which needs to be followed,” they said.

Legal issues aside, CAP and SAM are appalled that the Madani government is proceeding with the project despite the concerns and objections raised by fishermen including from Pen Mutiara, the official fishermen’s association, and Persatuan Nelayan Kawasan Selatan Pulau Pinang (PNKSPP) and all the units of the fishing villages.

The fishermen have challenged the approval of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report but no hearing date has been fixed by the appeals board set up under the Environmental Quality Act 1974.

“The scaling down of the project from three islands to one has not allayed our concerns and those of the fishing community. This project is simply not needed as we have argued repeatedly that land on the mainland is more than sufficient for any expansion.”

Chow said in a statement said that the final approval for Silicon Island was in the form of the EMP.

Silicon Island is expected to be a 930-ha urban development in the waters near the Penang International Airport runway, and will take nine years to complete.

The DoE at the federal level had previously approved the project in April with 71 conditions, but the actual project could not begin without an EMP by the Penang DoE.

A 2019 DoE approval for three reclaimed islands was rescinded a year later after the DoE appeals board allowed an appeal by the fishermen’s unit over a technicality.

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced that the project would be reduced to a single island. – The Vibes, September 2, 2023