Gamuda, the majority shareholder of SRS Consortium Sdn Bhd, which is undertaking the PSI reclamation work, yesterday slammed critics by saying that their calls for it to be scaled down or scrapped reflect the “scant regard for the integrity of the due process”.
It stressed that its EIA approval was secured following a stringent process.
It said more than 4,000 comments were registered during the public displays, of which “an overwhelming 93%” were positive.
It also said the PSI project secured a social impact assessment approval rating of 79.1% from the local community and the support of 74.8% of local fishermen.
The three NGOs – Consumers’ Association of Penang, Sahabat Alam Malaysia, and Penang Forum – said the surveys’ results were challenged during the EIA feedback process for “being exaggerated, misleading, and without basis”.
They also said the sample size was too small for such conclusions to be made, and that opposition to the project by the 6,000-member Penang Fishermen’s Association (Pen Mutiara) was ignored.
The groups also rubbished Gamuda’s claim about the “rigorous” process undertaken for approving the project’s EIA.
They said the EIA was flawed as it failed to take into consideration that the project could result in the destruction of an important fishery site for more than 3,000 fishermen.
They also pointed out that the former director-general of the environment department (DoE) had advised the state government in a letter dated June 25, 2019, that the mega-reclamation project will cause permanent damage to the marine ecosystem of the southern part of Penang island, and would affect the fishery sector and national food supply.
“Despite this warning, the EIA for the reclamation project was approved. That speaks volumes for the independence and objectivity of the EIA process,” they said in their joint statement.
The NGOs also said there was gross undervaluation in the EIA report’s economic valuation of the environmental impacts.
“For example, the latest approved EIA quoted the unit price of shrimps as RM6,000 a tonne in 2022, which works out to RM6 a kg. This is indeed unbelievable, for anyone who buys shrimp will tell you that the unit price is at least 10 times higher than what is stated in the EIA. Yet, such gross undervaluation is allowed in the EIA,” they said.
Last week, the state government decided to scale down the PSI project to just one island, after being urged to do so by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Chief minister Chow Kon Yeow said the project would be reduced to 931ha on a single island south of the Penang International Airport runway, compared with the original plan of three islands measuring 1,821ha.