No injunction, so we went ahead with reclamation, says Chow

Published by Free Malaysia Today• 24/9/2023

Penang chief minister Chow Kon Yeow at a tanglung (lantern festival) celebration in George Town this evening.

GEORGE TOWN: Reclamation work for the RM8.5 billion Silicon Island project has begun as there has been no court injunction filed against it, chief minister Chow Kon Yeow said today.

“There is no injunction against the state from proceeding with any works because we have obtained all the approvals,” he told reporters after attending a tanglung (lantern festival) celebration here.

“So with approval obtained, we commence with the works, unless anyone can obtain a court injunction to stop us.”

He made the comments when asked why the reclamation works had begun although an appeal had been filed by the fishermen to stop the mega-reclamation project.

On May 23, the Penang Fishermen’s Association and Zakaria Ismail, head of the Sungai Batu Fishermen’s Unit, filed notices of appeal to the environmental Appeals Board to challenge the conditional approval given to the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report prepared for the project.

Conditional approval for the project had been given by the department of environment on April 11.

On Sept 1, Chow announced that the environmental management plan report for the Silicon Island project had been approved, and that the preparatory works for the project had begun on the same day.

The fishermen community and several environmental groups have been opposing the island project because of the massive damage it would inflict on the marine ecosystem of the southern coastline of Penang island as well as its severe impact on their livelihood.

The project was downsized from a three-island project covering the entire southern coastline to a single-island project following intervention by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.