Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) Penang branch adviser D Kanda Kumar said the tunnelling alone would have an adverse effect on the hills and cause irreparable damage, while the use of explosives would also pose a threat to the surroundings.

Speaking to FMT, he said the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the highway currently on display for objections had shown the proposed tunnels would go through fractured and “sensitive” hills.

“The EIA itself revealed it would be tunnelling through a sensitive area. Are we giving up our island to developers without looking at the environment?”

The route in question is a 19.5km, six-lane Pan Island Link (PIL) 1 toll-free highway which will connect Gurney Drive to the second Penang Bridge in Bayan Lepas.

The highway will have a 10km section which is proposed to be bored through the hill slopes of Penang Hill, Paya Terubong and Sungai Ara.

The state government said it was necessary to tunnel the section as opposed to creating elevated structures to avoid cutting down trees and evacuating residents along the route.

The PIL 1 tunnel will go under the Penang Hill Railway. At one point, it will cut across the City Park (formerly Youth Park), a favourite jogging and recreational space for Penangites.

The PIL 1 project will be financed through the creation of three islands south of Penang, as part of the larger Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) which includes an LRT project.

Kanda said the tunnelling of the highway through the hills made the state government’s aim to have the Penang Hill marked as a Unesco site an exercise in futility.

He added that it was naive of the state government to assume that species indigenous to the Penang Hill range would “simply migrate” elsewhere once the tunnelling kicks off.

“What other places would they migrate to on the island?” he asked.

Kanda said the state government should scale down mega road projects and improve existing ones, using the Halcrow transport master plan which was shelved to make way for the PTMP.

He also urged the government to focus on public transport as constructing additional roads had been proven to cause more congestion.

“We should rethink this whole thing. And the question that needs to be asked is, do we need more roads in the next 50 years or more public transport?”

‘Nearly 700kg of explosives to be used in blasting tunnel’

Meanwhile, activist Anil Netto voiced concern over the way in which the contractors were planning to tunnel through the hills, saying they would be employing a “drill and blast” method.

After combing through the EIA, he said at least 700kg of explosives would be used in the blasting operation.

Even this might be too little, he said, as he had compared the amount to that used in the Ipoh railway double-tracking project.

“At least 450 tonnes of explosives were used in the ‘drill and blast’ method to bore just over 2km of tunnels north of Ipoh,” he said.

“About 120,000 explosive devices were used. Remember, this is much narrower than the broad tunnels (10km) required for a six-lane highway.”

He urged the Penang government to reveal how many tonnes of explosives would be used in the tunnelling project.

“In the absence of official figures, some have estimated that almost 15,000 tonnes of explosives will be used to construct all the tunnels.”

FMT has contacted Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow for comment and is awaiting his reply.