SM Mohamed Idris, president of CAP and SAM, said the project would instead have an effect on the environment, health and the socio-economy.

He said while the roads could divert traffic from more congested areas, the traffic congestion was actually caused by an increase in the number of vehicles on the road.

“Studies have shown that while new roads or road widening could provide some temporary relief, it would not really solve the traffic congestion,” he said in a statement here today.

Idris said many Penang residents were unaware that the environmental impact assessment for the proposed project had been put up on display for public comment since June 19.

Some 238 lots of land will be taken over for the roads project, involving 3.34 hectares of permanent forest reserve land, 34.5 hectares of state forest land, and 16.5 hectares of forest, private, state and federal land.

“The amount of land which would be taken over by Package One is 600,555 square metres, Package 2 involves 216,606 square metres and Package 3 involves 9,792 square metres,” he said.