Seberang Perai municipal councillor Joshua Woo says the federal government is giving lame excuses to justify rejecting project.
PETALING JAYA: The proposed reclamation project in Penang will not encroach into international borders and Putrajaya should stop giving lame excuses to justify rejecting the project, says Seberang Perai municipal councillor Joshua Woo Sze Zeng.
He said the proposed reclamation project was towards the south, within the border of Penang state and not in the direction of Indonesia in the west.
The DAP Socialist Youth leader said, as expected, the Umno-BN federal government would do its best to reject the reclamation project by the Penang state government.
“Umno-BN doesn’t want the opposition-led state to excel. The project, if approved, will fund the light rail transit (LRT), solve traffic congestion, boost the local economy, and provide more land to Penangites.
“In other words, the project will bring huge progress to Penang,” he said in a statement.
Woo was responding to a statement by Environment and Natural Resources Minister Wan Junaidi Jaafar who had said that he personally disagreed with the reclamation project as it would not only affect marine resources but might also cause a shift in the country’s continental shelf (an underwater landmass which extends from a continent).
“Penang’s continental shelf will shift, and if the reclamation extends more than three nautical miles (the limit allowed under the law) from the shoreline, then the country’s continental shelf will shift and it will possibly encroach into international waters. I can’t agree to such a move,” Wan Junaidi had said.
The minister had also said that issues involving international waters should be taken into consideration by the state government before implementing the project.
Wan Junaidi had also said that it would be illegal to implement the project now as several reports had yet to be received from the developer and the state government, namely the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report, reports on studies conducted on the social and political impact as well as on the marine life.
In rebutting Wan Junaidi’s claims, Woo said politically, Umno-BN’s future would be affected by the success of the project.
“If the project is successfully implemented, Umno-BN will lose its hope for a possible comeback to rule Penang. Moreover, other states will be inspired to abandon them.
“Economically, Penang will be more independent from the federal government, able to build up the state with less limitations.
“Penangites will not need to live by the mercy, or forever be deceived by empty promises, of the federal government.
“Socially, Penangites will have a much better public transport system than the current one, which is entirely controlled by the federal government.
“The Umno-BN government wants a Penang that is forever plagued by complaints over the traffic condition so that they can continue to bait Penangites with empty promises, like how they have done at least three times in the past,” Woo said.
On complaints that the project would affect the livelihood of fishermen and the environment, he said the Umno-BN federal government would continue to give dubious excuses to reject the proposal no matter what the Penang government did to compensate the affected fishermen or minimise the environmental impact. -FMT
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