He said the Penang government must consider other alternatives, including trying to secure federal or external funding for the controversial project, which has been heavily criticised by civil society groups and fishermen.
“We (State PKR) feel that reclamation should be the last resort because we know about the serious environmental effects on sea life and the fishing community’s livelihood, to the extent the state would have to import possible lesser quality produce from other countries.
“”We also want to state clearly that we are not against PTMP, but we have our reservations on the reclamation. That is why we are trying to find a solution, a way out to solve the Penang South Reclamation,” he told reporters after meeting fishermen at the Sungai Batu jetty here today.
Sim, who is deputy minister for agriculture and agro-based industry, said Penang PKR has set up a committee, chaired by acting state party chairman Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik to assist the state government to resolve the reclamation issue following protests by the local fishing community over possible environmental damage and loss of income should the project take off.
“My duty is to be the voice of the people, and as deputy agriculture minister and member of parliament I have a responsibility of bringing forth their (fishermen) voices. At this point the fishermen are rejecting (the project). It is nothing personal, it’s about policy, the livelihood of the fishermen,” he said.
The head of the Fishermen’s Unit in neighbouring Gertak Sanggul, Chooi Sooi Kong, said the state government’s assurance that that it may scale down the project to just one island if it secures federal funding will not resolve the fishing community’s main problem, which is the loss of sea life in the reclaimed area.
Penang Fishermen’s Association chairman Nazri Ahmad said the association’s stand on the whole issue remains consistent, and they were not budging.
“We are not against the transport plan because we know it’s a necessity. We are only protesting against the reclamation. We really hope the state government can find a better way to fund the project. Penang still has lots of undeveloped land on the mainland, so why can’t they be developed for funds?” he said.
Under the PSR project, the state government proposes to reclaim 1,821.085ha by creating three man-made islands south of Penang Island, between Permatang Damar Laut and Gertak Sanggul to create a land bank which will fund the RM46 billion Penang Transport Master Plan.
The plan calls for the creation of an undersea tunnel connecting the island to the mainland, several highways on the island, an LRT line, monorail and a bus network on the island and Seberang Perai.