GEORGE TOWN – The biggest hurdle for the Penang South Islands project (formerly Penang South Reclamation) has turned out to be mismatched paperwork, amid the tug-of-war between the state government and activists over the massive development plan.
The snag here is the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), which states that the plan is to start work on Island B, followed by Islands A and C. However, the Environmental Management Plan (EMP) submitted to the federal Department of Environment (DoE) on January 6 had an error.
Now, Deputy Chief Minister 1 Datuk Ahmad Zakiyuddin Abd Rahman told The Vibes that a revised EMP will be submitted to the DoE later this month.
Without the EIA and EMP, works cannot take place. It is learnt that the EMP approval takes around 90 days.
While the EIA is set to expire this month, the DoE has already extended the approval until April 10, 2022.
The EMP is part of the EIA’s approval requirements for the PSI project that requires the appointed contractor to comply with prescribed environmental control measures and programmes.
Zakiyuddin also said the state government will revert to its EIA plan, which is to start work on Island B, and the revised EMP should reflect that.
“Yes, we will build Island B first. Regarding the agreement with the developer, I understand it has not been finalised and is still at the level of mutual understanding.
“However, the distance between Island A and B is not far, so we will probably first build part of Island B which is close to Island A. Whatever it is, we’ll wait.”
The DoE had, in a statement in May, denied it was considering an EMP for the Penang mega reclamation project.
Its director-general, Norlin Jaafar, had said this was because the Penang DoE had not received the EMP, which is in line with the concept of the project.
It is understood that the EMP report submitted to the DoE previously did not follow the original sequence of works as submitted in the EIA report that was approved by the DoE on June 25, 2019.
Through the public presentation of the the EIA report in April 2019, it said that the PSI project would start with building the 4.45 sq km Island B first, which is estimated to take up to seven years.
During this period, the developer will also build the 9.3 sq km Island A that will take about eight years, followed by the 3.23 sq km Island C that is expected to be completed in seven years.
However, in March, the Penang government announced changes to the financing plan for Island A that would be made through a private financing initiative without involving state funds, in a 30:70 stake with SRS Consortium.
Chow had said that preliminary works or Phase 1 of the reclamation works would be on Island A, and expected to take five years and cost RM3.8 billion.
The implementation of the PSI with an area of almost 17 sq km involves the development of three artificial islands with an area of 1,700ha in the waters of Permatang Damar Laut, near Bayan Lepas.
It is part of the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) worth RM46 billion. – The Vibes, June 2, 2021
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