DESPITE being embroiled in controversies, the reclamation project that is the Penang South Islands (PSI) has had the support of a majority of the people in Penang since it first started in 2013, according to Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.
He said the project, previously known as the Penang South Reclamation (PSR) project, had gone through an eight or nine-year-long approval process before it finally obtained the green light from the environmental impact assessment (EIA).
“Even during the election, we laid it on the table, in the manifesto as well as for the people to decide and they have decided. The majority have decided to support the PSI,” Chow told reporters.
Yesterday, Chow said the PSI project’s EIA report has been approved by the Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Ministry’s Department of Environment (DOE).
Announcing this at a press conference yesterday (April 26), Chow said the EIA approval came with 71 conditions to be fulfilled.
Further to the approval, he added that the state government through the project delivery partner is in the process to obtain approval for the Environmental Management Plan (EMP) through the state DOE.
However, not all is smooth sailing for the project as it was also reported today (April 27) that the leader of a group of fishermen that had previously successfully appealed against the project had vowed to mount another appeal.
Recall that in 2021, Penang Fishermen’s Association deputy chief Zakaria Ismail had led 185 fishermen from Penang’s southern coast to mount an appeal against the “three islands project” and succeeded in revoking the EIA approval granted by the DOE then.
Zakaria said news of the “final” approval by the DOE for the reclamation project yesterday came as no surprise, adding that the announcement had only renewed the vigour of the fishermen to “fight back against those intent on throwing sand into our rice bowl”.
“We will appeal just like last time,” he added.
The RM10 billion PSI reclamation project is a state government project to build three artificial islands in the waters of Permatang Damar Laut, near Bayan Lepas with a land area of 1,821 ha.
However, the fishing community and environmental non-governmental groups in the state objected to the project since it purportedly harms the maritime habitat. – April 27, 2023
Main pic credit: Penang South Islands
