Sea reclamation: Application should be in accordance with procedures

The Penang government should comply with stipulated procedures and conditions, including getting the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report from the Department of Environment (DOE), in its application for approval for the proposed Penang South Reclamation (PSR) scheme.

Penang Federal Action Council chairman Datuk Seri Zainal Abidin Osman said the federal government would treat the application fairly and would not be bias or influenced by political factors.

He said since the opposition took over Penang, the federal government had implemented various projects involving more than RM20 billion.

“This proves that the federal government does not consider political differences when making decision, it is for the people’s interests,” he told reporters after closing the Penang Bumiputera Entrepreneurs Expo (Penbax) at Dataran Transformasi Usahawan, Kubang Menerong, here last night.

Yesterday, Penang exco for Local Government, Traffic Management and Flood Mitigation, Chow Kon Yeow hoped the federal government would be fair in processing applications for reclamation projects for the state.

He said the evaluation of any reclamation project should be impartial and consider all aspects including economic and social benefits and also the feasibility in the long run, and not influenced by political factors.

Meanwhile, on Penbax, Zainal Abidin, who is Penang UMNO Liaison committee chairman said it achieved its target of getting RM1.8 million in sales. The target set was RM1.8 million.

At last year’s Penbax, the amount of sales collected was RM1.5 million, but the sale collection this year was RM2 million, and the number of visitors also exceeded the target of 80,000 people,” he said.

The expo, held for six days, involved the participation of more than 300 entrepreneurs.

-- BERNAMA