Chow says Penang open to renegotiating land reclamation off Karpal Singh Drive

• "If it is approved, we [the state government] are prepared to renegotiate and review the implementation method to mitigate any potential impact.”

BATU KAWAN (July 4): The Penang government is ready to renegotiate the proposed land reclamation project off Karpal Singh Drive, George Town, in response to public concerns raised by the non-governmental organisation (NGO) “ProtectKarpal”.

Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow (pictured) said the state government remained committed to ensuring full compliance with the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process and that any decision on the project would only be made based on the outcome of the assessment.

“The public engagement session just ended on June 30 and the developer must review all concerns raised and take appropriate action. The project developer has also been given until next February to obtain EIA approval.

“If the EIA approval is not obtained, the project may not proceed. If it is approved, we [the state government] are prepared to renegotiate and review the implementation method to mitigate any potential impact,” he told reporters after officiating the groundbreaking ceremony for the public market and hawker centre in Bandar Cassia, Batu Kawan, here.

The Batu Kawan MP said this in response to concerns raised by the ProtectKarpal group or the Protect Karpal Singh Drive Action Committee, during a recent meeting with him.

The group, comprising mostly residents of Karpal Singh Drive, voiced concerns over the project's construction methods.

Chow said ProtectKarpal representatives had also raised concerns about the project’s environmental implications during a meeting with him last week.

He said they proposed that the Middle Bank area, located near the project site, be immediately gazetted as a marine sanctuary due to its importance to local fisheries and ecological stability.

Chow said the state government was open to considering ProtectKarpal’s requests.

He added that although an agreement was already in place between the Penang Development Corporation (PDC) and the developer, the state government was open to renegotiating the terms.

“Scaling down the project does not necessarily affect the existing contract, but it may require some ‘sacrifices’ on our part, particularly in terms of the land to be received from the reclamation.

“Sometimes, we have to make sacrifices or adjustments to strike a balance between development and the state’s environmental sustainability,” he said.

For the record, in 2020, PDC signed an agreement with PLB Engineering Bhd to redevelop the Jelutong landfill at a cost of RM1 billion.

The site was previously a sanitary landfill, but since 2002, only construction and garden waste have been allowed to be disposed of there.

Earlier, in his speech at the event, Chow said the public market and hawker centre project was being built on a 7.69-acre site at a total cost of RM46 million and was expected to be fully completed by June 23, 2027.

He said the project comprised two stages, with the first involving earthworks that began on Nov 7, 2022, and were fully completed on Jan 6 last year, followed by the second stage involving building and infrastructure construction, which began on June 24.

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