3-year procedures before PSR approved, says DOE

Published by  Free Malaysia Today (FMT) • 04/10/2019 • 09:20 am

Reclamation works seen on an island from Penang’s Gurney Drive. Environmentalists say reclamation works including the Penang South Reclamation project will affect the state’s marine ecosystem. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: The Department of Environment (DOE) has denied a claim by a Penang NGO that its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the proposed Penang South Reclamation (PSR) project was approved in two days.

DOE said the EIA report for the proposed project had gone through the usual processing procedures, which took three years, from 2016 to 2019.

The procedures included the processing of the EIA report and a public exhibition from April 26 to May 28 this year.

“EIA technical review committee meetings to study and discuss the report were held on May 10 and May 29, 2019, attended by the Penang state secretary, relevant state and federal technical agencies, appointed individuals and EIA consultants,” the department said in a statement.

They said a revised EIA report had taken into consideration the input of the public and those present in the meetings and was presented on June 21.

“DOE found that the EIA report fulfilled Section 34A(3) of the Environmental Quality Act 1974. With that, the EIA report was approved with 72 terms of approval.”

Penang Forum earlier said PSR was approved in two days, based on a timeline sourced from the state government’s reports and updates on the project.

The pressure group also questioned if it was a coincidence that the three islands project was approved on the last day of office of DOE director-general Ahmad Kamarulnajuib Che Ibrahim.

It cited the approval letter issued on June 25, saying the date coincided with his retirement.