THE Penang government believes that every stakeholder has equal rights to highlight individual plights and grievances and the state is willing to listen and address those issues.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the state government is open to listen and address issues brought up by those opposing the proposed Penang South Reclamation (PSR) project.
“It doesn’t matter if it is from a political party or an ordinary fisherman. Every stakeholder has equal rights to voice out and highlight matters that may affect them.
“We are willing to listen and take the necessary step to alleviate and address those issues,” Chow replied to a question whether was there any party instigating the fishermen with regard to the proposed PSR project.
Chow said the concerns raised were concurrent with the progress of the project.
“They objected when the project was in its ‘application stage’. Now that they know the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been approved, they asked for the conditions to be released.
“They want to know the source of the sand for the project and its impact to the area. Maybe later they will ask for the Environmental Management Plan (EMP) to be publicised.
“I believe that the state government must be open to all these issues as long as this project is active and ongoing,” Chow told a press conference in Komtar today.
Chow also revealed the entire 72 conditions imposed by the Department of Environment (DoE) for the implementation of the proposed PSR project.
“As promised, we make public the 72 conditions imposed by the DoE for the implementation of the project.
“It is compulsory for the state to comply and implement the mitigation measures according to the technical advices by the respective departments, especially by the Fisheries Department, to address the impacts on fishery resources and the community of fishermen,” he said.
Chow also stressed the need to carry out the offset programme as ordered by the DoE.
It was stated that the offset programme should be organised as part of the Penang Offset Masterplan for the project.
Among the measures listed are to build artificial reefs, to install fishery aggregating devices (FADs), to replant mangrove trees according to the advice from the Forestry Department and other related agencies, and to release fish seeds.
Chow said he had instructed his officer to arrange for a detailed briefing on the proposed PSR project for Port Dickson MP Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
“The state government received a request from him this morning (July 16) to understand more about the project. He wants a detailed briefing, so I have instructed my officer to do the necessary.
“The venue of the briefing will be at the convenience of both parties and the briefing will be held as soon as possible,” he said.
“We welcome his recent meeting with the fishermen. From his statement that was reported in the media, he did not oppose the PSR project.
“Anwar hoped that the interest of the fishermen can be protected as fairly as possible, so as not to be a victim of development. He wanted fishing activities and the source of income for fishermen to be continued together with the progress of the project,” Chow said.
Chow added that the softcopy of the 72 conditions would be uploaded in the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) website as soon as possible.
SRS Consortium project director Szeto Wai Loong said the company would have to submit the EMP and obtain the approval from the DoE before starting the project.
“The EMP may take six to nine months to complete,” he said.
He also said that sand for the project would be extracted from two sources – one from Selangor (near the Port Klang area) and another in Perak (at least 20 nautical miles away from the Perak coastline).
“The one in Perak is a Federal territory area where trawl fishing activities are conducted.
“The appointed contractor (via open tender) must reveal where the sand is to be sourced. A detailed EIA report on the identified location must be prepared to study the effect of the sand mining on the location and its surrounding areas,” he said.
Also present were state executive council members Chong Eng, Phee Boon Poh and Soon Lip Chee, Chow’s political secretary Teh Lai Heng and PTMP special purpose vehicle chief Datuk Lim Hock Seng.
Story by Christopher Tan
Pix by Adleena Rahayu Ahmad Radzi
Video by Alvie Cheng