An activist has taken Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow to task for not addressing the issues raised in her letter to the state government on the Bayan Lepas light rail transit (LRT) system.
Penang Forum's Khoo Salma Nasution (above) said Chow only explained about the display of the first environmental impact assessment (EIA) report of the LRT system.
She said Chow should address issues like ridership, population catchment, the LRT depot, and most importantly, financial and cashflow issues which she had mentioned in her letter.
"Instead, he only explained that the first EIA issued in 2017 was displayed that year,"
"Why is the Chief Minister referring to a display of a two-year-old EIA when we are talking about the second EIA dated August 27, 2019?
"Why was this revised EIA only uploaded on September 13, 2019 on the Department of Environment (DOE) website but not uploaded on the government website?" Salma told Malaysiakini.
She said the Chief Minister has yet to present any credible arguments as to why the Bayan Lepas LRT should not be regarded as a “white elephant project”.
"Would he like to invite Penang Forum to a public debate over this topic?" she asked.
She was referring to Chow's remarks on Friday about her letter titled “Penang’s Bayan Lepas LRT – Glorious Legacy or White Elephant Project”, which was published in Malaysiakini on October 22.
In a press conference in Komtar, Chow had accused Penang Forum of making "baseless allegations" toward the Penang government.
Spanning 19km, the LRT from Bayan Lepas to Komtar is a component of the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP), and it will be built on one of the artificial islands in the southern post of the island after reclamation work is done.
Salma said the second “Revised EIA” shows significant revisions to the first one, which Chow said had been displayed in 2017.
"For example, the airport station has been moved to a different location, and the distance from the LRT station to the check-in counter has been changed from 265m to 140m.
"Although the actual walking distance could still be more than 200m if it involves circumventing the new parking structure," Salma said.
"The new LRT alignment would obviously affect houses, schools, mosques, and temples in different ways; why are they not shown?" she asked.
"I am sure that the impacted stakeholders would like to see the revised EIA and to be consulted in the upcoming Social Impact Assessment," she added.
Salma said the state should take heed that the Social Impact Assessment for the Penang South Reclamation was approved in May 2019 without consulting the relevant fishermen leaders and concerned civil society leaders.
She said the Penang state government should provide detailed information of how the ambitious the PTMP is supposed to roll out physically and financially over the next 10, 20, 30 years.
"As Penang Forum has been repeatedly saying, the first step to convincing the public that the current version of the PTMP is the best solution to our traffic problems is to open the PTMP up to professional review," She added. - Mkini
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