CHANT urges Penang govt, Zenith to make DEIA report public

GEORGE TOWN (Aug 22): Citizen Awareness Chant Group (CHANT) calls on the Penang state government and one of the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) contractors to make the full Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (DEIA) report public.

On April 2017, Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (CZC) had submitted the DEIA report for the three paired road project to the Department of Environment (DOE) and was approved in November same year.

The proposed three paired roads, which is part of the PTMP, included the 10.53km North Coastal paired road from Tanjung Bungah to Teluk Bahang, the 5.7km paired road from Air Itam to Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway bypass, and a 4.075km paired road from Gurney Drive to Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway bypass.

It is learnt that DOE had set 59 conditions to be met in the DEIA before, during and after construction, but did not specify what were the said conditions.

CHANT advisor Yan Lee in a press conference here today requested that DEIA’s conditions be made public for all interested parties to scrutinise.

He said only the DOE director-general, Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow (pictured) and CZC had knowledge regarding DEIA’s 59 conditions.

He added that Tanjung Bungah Residents’ Association (TBRA) had been following up and had asked DOE and Chow on the conditions but to no avail.

“We hope that any of the three mentioned parties could provide the details regarding DEIA’s conditions to the public,” he said.

Meanwhile, Yan Lee said Penang Forum would be hosting a dialogue session regarding PTMP on Aug 25 (Saturday) at Dewan Sri Pinang at 2pm.

He said all are welcome to attend the dialogue and understand how PTMP may affect their lives.

PTMP is a state-initiated project, costing an estimated RM46 billion, which features an undersea tunnel linking the island to the mainland, highways, LRT, monorail as well as extensive bus connectivity on both the island and the mainland.