The party’s deputy president Oh Tong Keong said chief minister Chow Kon Yeow should not insinuate that the project could carry on when the PSR’s environmental management plan or EMP has yet to be approved.

Chow has said the state would go ahead with the PSR despite objections, as the “positives outweigh the negatives” in the reclamation of three islands in the south to fund transportation projects.

“The bottom line is, why do we need this reclamation in the first place when there is so much land in Seberang Perai? Wouldn’t it be better to develop the mainland, so as to match the development on the island?” Oh asked in a statement today.

Chow had previously reiterated that his government would never start the reclamation project without an EMP. The EMP is one of 72 conditions set by the DoE in approving the reclamation in 2019 so as to reduce environmental impact.

On May 20, DoE director-general Norlin Jaafar said the EMP for the PSR has yet to be received. She said a previously submitted EMP did not follow the original sequence of the islands to be developed.

She said the original sequence was stipulated in DoE’s approval of the project on June 25, 2019. The Penang government, in response, had said it would send an updated EMP this month, saying there was a small error in the earlier submitted plans.

The 17 sq km development will see three islands created off the waters of Permatang Damar Laut to fund the RM46 billion Penang Transport Master Plan, consisting of an LRT project and a few highways.