Protect Karpal Singh Drive also claimed that they had been kept in the dark over plans for the RM1 billion project.
The group’s spokesman Dr K Ganesh said residents were never consulted on the original environmental impact assessment (EIA) and had not been shown the revised EIA resubmitted by the developer to the environment department.
“But they suddenly claim that the revised EIA is done and that 80% of the residents were agreeable. This is a mockery.
“We want to be consulted properly. This affects our families and our lives,” he told reporters after handing over a memo to the Penang chief minister’s representative, Yap Lee Ying, and Sungai Dua assemblyman and state opposition leader Fauzi Yusoff this morning.
In July, the group called on environmental regulators to reject a developer’s EIA which they said broke the rules by leaving out a full health impact assessment (HIA).
Ganesh also asked whether a proper HIA had been carried out, claiming that residents had not been shown any documents.
He said while they were not against a proper and safe rehabilitation of the Jelutong landfill, they rejected what they saw as the reclamation of land on the pretext of wanting to rehabilitate the site.
Consumers Association of Penang and Sahabat Alam Malaysia honorary secretary Mageswari Sangaralingam said excavating the landfill base and operating open-air waste recycling facilities risked releasing toxic gases and emissions in an area already prone to landfill fires.
She said the Jelutong landfill is close to the Middle Bank mudflat and nearby neighbourhoods.
“And whatever is carried out there is going to affect the residents. Not for one or two years, but forever,” she said, adding that reclamation works would also affect the fisheries and marine biodiversity.
In 2020, the state government and Penang Development Corporation signed a deal with PLB Engineering Bhd to rehabilitate and develop the Jelutong landfill.
The plan covers about 65ha in total, comprising some 36ha for landfill rehabilitation and the rest for reclamation.
The department said the reclaimed land, located north of the landfill and adjacent to the Karpal Singh waterfront, would serve as a working zone for waste sorting, recycling and environmental restoration.
FMT has contacted the chief minister for comment.