Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow has refuted as "baseless" NGO Penang Forum's claims that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the Bayan Lepas light rail transit (LRT) system was not put on public display.
Chow said the public display of the EIA (executive summary, full report and appendix) for the Bayan Lepas LRT project was carried out in 10 locations from July 19 to Aug 19, 2017.
The locations included Komtar, Department of Environment offices in Putrajaya and Penang, local councils, the Fishermen's Service Center at Permatang Damar Laut as well as at the national and state libraries.
"The public was given until Sept 2, 2017, to give their feedback," Chow said in George Town today.
"The public display notice was also covered by the Malay, English, Chinese and Tamil newspapers," he added.
Chow was referring to Penang Forum's Khoo Salma Nasution who questioned why the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the LRT project was not put on display at several locations in Penang.
In her article published on Oct 22 titled, Penang’s Bayan Lepas LRT: Glorious legacy or white elephant project?, Salma claimed that the state had promoted a "public inspection" of the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) instead of a public display of the EIA.
Chow said currently, a railway scheme public inspection exercise was underway and this was required by the Land Public Transport Agency (Apad).
The exercise at several locations in Putrajaya and Penang and will be carried out from August 19 to Nov 19.
"The public inspection does not involve the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) as the report had been released in 2017.
"We are disappointed that Penang Forum continues to spread such baseless information and accusations," Chow lamented.
"The EIA report has been updated and can be assessed at the Department of Environment website," he added.
Meanwhile, Chow said the technical committee on the Bayan Lepas LRT had decided on Aug 14, 2017, that the Penang government had to obtain approval of the National Physical Planning Council (MPFN) for the Penang South Reclamation (PSR) as the LRT depot would be based on one of the three artificial islands.
Spanning 19km, the LRT, which is part of the state's RM46 billion transport master plan, is slated to stop at 22 stations enroute to Komtar.
"The state government obtained 18 suggestions from MPFN on April 18 and our EIA consultants have updated the report although there are no big changes which would impact the proposed LRT route.
The report can be accessed here. - Mkini
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