The Protect Karpal Singh Drive action committee (ProtectKarpal), under the Bandar Sri Pinang Pulau Pinang Residents’ Association, urges the Penang state government to immediately reject the proposed 70-acre Jelutong reclamation and enforce the limits of its own joint development agreement.
When PLB Engineering submitted its revised tender in July 2016, it proposed no sea reclamation.
When the joint development agreement was signed in February 2020, Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow told the public that “up to 10 acres of additional land would be reclaimed for embankment works and perimeter wall” – the first public mention of reclamation.
When the project’s environmental impact assessment went on public display in February 2025, that figure had grown to 70 acres: seven times what the chief minister had described five years earlier.
The agreement already answers how large that area should be. Clause 1.1.1 of the joint development agreement – obtained by ProtectKarpal through a freedom of information appeal – defines “additional area” as land the developer rehabilitates beyond the “existing area”, but only “as required and approved by the Relevant Authorities to secure the perimeters for the purpose of the Developer carrying out and completing the Rehabilitation Works only”.
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The purpose is explicit in clause 1.1.1: additional reclamation is for securing the perimeter, and for that purpose only.
ProtectKarpal’s reading of the displayed environmental impact assessment is that almost all of the proposed 70 acres would accommodate the processing and recycling of excavated waste during rehabilitation.
A need for waste-processing space does not, by itself, establish a need for perimeter security.
The relevant authorities should therefore approve only the acreage demonstrably necessary for the stated purpose and reject the rest.
No to another landfill
Furthermore, using waste material recovered from the Jelutong landfill to reclaim 70 acres of sea risks creating another landfill within the reclaimed coastline.
Calling the waste material ‘recycled’ does not establish its environmental safety. That requires testing appropriate to its intended use.
ProtectKarpal therefore demands independent evidence of the fill’s suitability for marine reclamation.
Penang must not inherit another landfill from a project intended to rehabilitate the existing one.
Option to terminate
Chow has cited legal complications when discussing the project’s future.
Yet clause 18.1 of the joint development agreement expressly permits termination with not less than 30 days’ notice where the state considers it necessary in the state interest, for state security, or for state government policy or public policy.
Clause 18.2 places the determination of those interests and policies in the state government’s hands.
The agreement therefore provides an express termination option.
If the state anticipates compensation or other legal consequences, it should identify the relevant provisions and explain its assessment publicly.
Full disclosure is necessary, whichever course the state chooses.
The Penang Freedom of Information Appeals Board ordered disclosure on 30 June 2026, following ProtectKarpal former chair’s appeal.
ProtectKarpal has received the main agreement but is still seeking its schedules and appendices. These documents are essential for assessing the rehabilitation scope, site boundaries and project conditions.
Residents should not have to pursue successive appeals to understand a public agreement affecting Penang’s coastline.
ProtectKarpal calls on the state government to:
- Reject the proposed 70-acre reclamation and confine any additional area to demonstrable perimeter security requirements under clause 1.1.1.
- Account for the expansion, including its technical, contractual and approval basis
- Announce its decision on clause 18.1 before 18 October 2026, serving the required notice if it decides to terminate, or explaining why it will retain the agreement
- Release the complete joint development agreement, including all schedules, appendices and supplementary agreements, without further freedom of information appeals
“The public deserves a clear answer: how much additional land is actually needed to secure the landfill perimeter?” ProtectKarpal chairman Dr K Ganesh said.
“The state should enforce that requirement, explain its decision on termination and publish the complete agreement.” – Protect Karpal
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