Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman is concerned about the potential adverse effects of a royalty-linked sea reclamation project on the livelihoods of some 1,000 fisherfolk who live in the constituency.
As such, he urged the state government to engage in a dialogue with stakeholders including the fisherfolk, local businesses, and local representatives, before going forward with the project.
"This is about their future and their children's future. Please help," Syed Saddiq (above) pled in an Instagram video yesterday.
The Maharani Energy Gateway project aims to create an energy hub and deepsea port.
It involves creating three man-made islands covering an area of 1,295 hectares, about a quarter of the size of Putrajaya.
Johor's Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar controls the largest stake in the project.
The Environmental Impact Assessment for the project states: "Fisherfolk who routinely fish in the affected area will have to find other locations".
The report further states that to continue fishing would involve an increase in costs due to travelling back and forth a further distance to alternate fishing grounds.
The report said it surveyed 101 fisherfolk about the project and most of them (49) had no opinion while 23 agreed with the proposal.
According to Syed Saddiq, a majority of fisherfolk he met were in the dark over the project.
Besides fisherfolk, he said the Maharani Energy Gateway could also impact local small businesses and housing prices.
The project is estimated to have a gross development value of RM99 billion over 10 years. It is also expected to generate 26,769 jobs over the same period, according to the report.
The company working on the project aims to begin reclamation works as early as this year. - Mkini
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