Kam Suan Pheng, a soil scientist who first highlighted that the tunnels for the proposed Pan Island Link 1 (PIL 1) will cross fragile granitic fault lines, told a talk today that this was the reason for Penang Forum’s paranoia although the authorities had repeatedly given the assurance that the proposal had not been approved by environmental regulators yet.
The 19.5km highway will connect Gurney Drive to the second bridge in the south, going through the Penang Hill range through a series of four tunnels.
Kam said when a reclamation project was proposed off the waters of Tanjung Tokong, she and Penang Forum’s panel of experts had similarly stated that an environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the project was deeply flawed.
She said despite sending a long explanation to the Department of Environment (DoE), the project was approved two weeks after their objections were heard.
“We compiled a report as long as the one we are planning to send to the DoE (on the PIL 1). After sending our objections on the reclamation project, we never received any response from the DoE.
“After our submission, the EIA was approved, despite having so many flaws pointed out in the report.
“At that time, the DoE was under a different federal government. Now, we have a very dynamic, young minister of environment who is supposedly very concerned about the environment.
“We hope that under her leadership the DoE will be more responsible,” she said referring to Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin.
Kam was answering a question from a member of the audience who had asked if the Penang government can go ahead with the PIL 1 project if it got a “lousy” EIA report.
She gave a talk to some 50 people at Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Centre for Policy Research and International Studies today, as part of Penang Forum’s briefing on the PIL 1 highway project.
The reclamation project mentioned by Kam is the Seri Tanjung Pinang 2 (STP 2), a 304ha reclamation project approved “in principle” by the Penang government in April 2011. It involved another 52ha reclamation project on the Gurney Drive foreshore requested by the Penang government.
The Penang Forum had raised concerns over an EIA report of the STP 2, including on sedimentation, erosion and how it affected the coast’s wildlife.
Despite a series of engagements, the STP 2 project was approved by the DoE in April 2014. The reclamation project is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
The Penang government had said the right to reclaim land was given by the then BN government in 1992. But the Penang Forum said the state still had control over the STP 2 since it had approved it “in principle”.