GEORGE TOWN – Penang should just drop its plans to reclaim land and focus instead on rebuilding the economy and restoring public healthcare as the state approaches the endemic phase, said the Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) president Mohideen Abdul Kader.
Mohideen said that if there is persisting demand for land, the focus should be on the mainland, Seberang Prai, where there are still empty plots of land which can be developed.
For now, he said, the focus should be on rapidly regaining control of the economy and containing the coronavirus since climate change is another major challenge that is fast approaching.
He was commenting on the state government’s move to seek a judicial review of the decision by the Appeals Board of the Environment Department to rescind the earlier Environmental Impact Assessment approval in 2019 for the Penang South Islands (PSI) mega reclamation.
The project entails developing three artificial islands comprising 1,821.1ha.
“I think the time has come for Penang to get away from the argument of reclaiming land on the pretence of there being no land on the island. Look across the channel, there are adequate land plots there. Look at Batu Kawan. There is a barren land parcel that can be rezoned into development areas,” Mohideen told The Vibes.
He said that the entire Penang Transport Master Plan, which started as an initiative to address traffic congestion, has been hijacked by certain quarters and snowballed into a developers’ real estate project.
“That is the main issue here – when focus should have been on alleviating traffic congestion, the state turned it into a mega real estate exercise.
“Do we think we need more housing and development? What about the present glut?”
In an age where conservation and preservation are trending, the state chose to turn away and focus on the opposite instead, he added.
Mohideen lamented the state’s refusal to listen to non-governmental organisations (NGOs), such as CAP, and the umbrella body of Penang Forum.
“Instead of listening to us, they embarked on some public relations exercise to downplay our stance on the matter.”
Mohideen said that the project’s critics are adamant that the state should simply scrap the reclamation and find other ways to underwrite projects to ease traffic.
“We are convinced that the reclamation is not in the people’s interest.”
He said that the state should revert to the NGOs, who had previously proposed a cheaper alternative to the transport master plan by using public transport instead of constructing more roads and mooting for a light rail transit system. – The Vibes, October 10, 2021
