Chief minister Chow Kon Yeow said the project will be reduced to 2,300 acres on a single island south of the Penang International Airport runway, compared to the original plan of three islands measuring 4,500 acres.
Chow said the reduction meant only 115 fishermen from Permatang Tepi Laut facing the reclaimed island would be affected by the project, as opposed to 496 if the three islands were built.
“Overall, the development of Silicon Island (formerly Island A) will take about 20 years, including topside development,” he told reporters here today.
Chow said the reduction was according to Anwar’s urging and Putrajaya’s assurance to undertake the island’s first light rail transit (LRT) project.
He said Silicon Island would be built in two phases, with the first phase measuring 1,300 acres to take seven to 10 years to be completed. An LRT depot is slated to be built on a 60-acre site there.
The second phase would add another 1,000 acres to the island.
He said the initial plan was to have the LRT depot on the main island across from the airport, but this has since been scrapped as it involved relocating three villages, places of worship and social impact.
Hence, the depot would be built on the reclaimed island, he said.
Chow also said the environmental impact assessment (EIA) approval for the reclamation remained valid as there were no changes to plans put forth earlier.
“The first phase of Silicon Island will have almost no impact on fisherfolk,” he said.
Meanwhile, SRS Consortium project director Szeto Wai Loong said the reclamation of the island will cost an estimated RM8.5 billion, of which RM2.5 billion was for common infrastructure.
The reclamation project’s EIA for all three islands was approved on April 26, subject to the fulfilment of 71 conditions.
The project was first approved in 2019, but its EIA approval was rescinded following a successful appeal by a group of fishermen.
The environmental appeals board unanimously ruled in the fishermen’s favour in 2021 on grounds that the project was yet to be gazetted under the 2030 Penang Structure Plan.
The state government lost in its attempt to reverse the decision at the High Court, as it had exceeded the three-month grace period to file the appeal.
A fresh EIA application was then submitted by the state on April 29 last year.
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