GEORGE TOWN: Penang will do away with two of three islands of the controversial Penang South Islands (PSI) reclamation project.
This will mean a scaling down of 49 per cent of the total three man-made islands project.
Island A, now known as Silicon Island, measures about 920ha while islands B and C, about 560ha and 320ha respectively.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said, during a recent visit to Penang, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had announced that the federal government would allocate additional allocation to help the state government expedite the proposed George Town- Bayan Lepas light rail transit (LRT) project.
Anwar had also asked the state government to scale down the PSI project.
"The state executive council members discussed this yesterday and we accepted the prime minister's advice.
"As such, we have decided to only proceed with the Silicon Island now, to be implemented in two phases, which will take between 10 and 15 years for reclamation works.
"Islands B and C will not proceed," he told a press conference at his office in Komtar today.
On April 26, Chow announced that Penang had finally obtained the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) approval for the PSI project, which came with 71 conditions to be fulfilled.
The approval was for the three islands, namely A, B and C.
The controversial reclamation project had undergone a comprehensive process with regards to the EIA report approved on June 25, 2019, but there was an appeal until the decision was overturned.
Several revised reports were subsequently submitted.
PSI involves the development of three artificial islands, with an area of 1,800ha, in the waters off Permatang Damar Laut, near Bayan Lepas.
However, the project received objections from the fishing community and environmental non-governmental organisations in the state because it was alleged that the project would damage the marine ecosystem in the area.
Elaborating, Chow said it was also decided during the state executive council meeting that Silicon Island would remain as the LRT depot measuring 24ha.
He said the Green Tech Park (GTP) and the Heart of the Island (HOTI) components on Silicon Island would serve as the economic catalyst and new tourism product for Penang.
Chow also said that with the latest development, only 115 fishermen from the Permatang Tepi Laut fishing unit, facing the Silicon Island reclamation site, would be directly involved compared with 496 fishermen (from four fishing units) before this.
"The first phase of Silicon Island, measuring 520ha, is expected to take seven to 10 years to complete, and will not possibly pose an impact to fishermen going out to sea. The second phase involves 400ha.
"All in all, the timeframe for the development of Silicon Island, including the topside, will take 20 years.
"With this latest development too, the Social Impact Management Plan (SIMP) for the fishermen involved will be discussed in detail in the fishermen task force committee meeting, to be chaired by Deputy Chief Minister I in the near future," he added.
Asked if there was a need for a new EIA to be submitted, Chow said he did not think so as the previous approval was for three islands.
"It is just that we are now proceeding with only one island," he said.
Pressed if there would be any implications on the state, he said the master agreement signed before this was only for the development of island A.
"There are no agreements signed for islands B and C. So, we are glad it will not involve any legal matters," he said.
Meanwhile, SRS Consortium project manager Szeto Wai Loong said they would be spending about RM6 billion for the reclamation and another RM2.5 billion for common infrastructures.
He said, based on the model for Silicon Island, they would only create land parcels to be auctioned off to the highest bidders.
He added that the successful bidders would then decide on the type of development.
Explaining, Chow said the state government would not be involved in developing any of the reclamation sites.
"Our responsibility is only to reclaim and prepare the common infrastructures such as roads, telecommunications, water supply, promenade and such.
"Nevertheless, the state government will not be involved in financing the reclamation cost as well as the common infrastructures," he added.