The revised plan to scale down the 4,500-acre reclamation off the south coast of Penang Island is still unacceptable, as 2,500 acres is still very large and will affect the fishery spawning grounds and the environment.
It will also involve large volumes of sand for the reclamation from Penang or Perak waters, causing more damage.
It is not correct to say a smaller number of fisherfolk will be affected as it is about destroying mudflats, coral reefs affecting the marine habitat and shrimp migration.
So it is not only the fisherfolk near the immediate site who will be affected but those along Penang, Kedah and Perak waters.
There is no need for the project at all since the funding for the “LRT” (elevated light rail) is already promised by the federal government.
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There is absolutely no justification for the reclamation, as we do have 12,000 hectares of land in Seberang Perai, as admitted by the Penang chief minister himself.
So scrap the project. Not scale it down!
Meenakshi Raman is president of Sahabat Alam Malaysia
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
I agreed previous PSI project was too huge for Penangite. However, I’d prefer to scale the down the size of PSI rather than scrap the whole project. As a Penangite who drives on the Lim Chong Eu highway every day, I see that there is less and less land in Penang, which leads to higher housing prices and building height(look at the Zen Condominium and the One Foresta in Bayan Lepas, typical of Hong Kong wall-effect buildings), forcing more and more Islanders to move to the mainland or other big cities. At least this scaled-down version plan can ensures that Penang Island will have enough land for development in the future, instead of moving to Seberang Perai because of land scarcity.