GEORGE TOWN, May 12 – The Penang government has announced that Island B and Island C in the Penang South Island Project (PSI) will be cancelled, as directed by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. The government has also reduced the area of Island A, known as Silicon Island, from 1,821 hectares to 930.8 hectares. The area reduction involves 49 percent of the total three islands, and Silicon Island will be implemented in two phases over a 10-15 year period.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said that Island C, with an area of 323.7 hectares, was also cancelled. With the reduction in scope, only 115 fishermen from the Permatang Tepi Laut unit will be involved with the Silikon Island reclamation site, compared to 496 people from four fishing units before. The Social Impact Management Plan (SIMP) for the fishermen involved will be discussed in detail in the Fishermen’s Taskforce Committee Meeting in the near future.
Last Saturday, Anwar ordered a review of the PSI Project and a reduction in its scope after the Federal Government heard complaints about the sea reclamation project and found that the Federal Government in recent years has not provided enough funds, especially in the development of urgent infrastructure for Penang. According to SRS Consortium Project Director Szeto Wai Loong, the model for Silicon Island is to create a land site that will be auctioned to the highest bidder.
The cost to reclaim the island is about RM6 billion while the cost to build infrastructure and common facilities on the island is about RM2.5 billion. The PSI project is a mega project involving reclamation to create three islands with an area of 1,821 hectares in the southern area of Penang. The project, which was first introduced in 2015, is a financing module of the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) worth RM46 billion after SRS Konsortium was appointed as PDP for PTMP on 14 August 2015.
