THE Penang South Reclamation project is important as it will provide for the growing state population by 2030, said Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow today.

He said the state population would be more than two million people by then, which would make it hard for the already congested island to meet public demands.

Penang civil society groups, namely Penang Forum, has repeatedly questioned the population forecast used by the state government to justify the PSR, which will see three man-made islands built off the southern coast of the main island.

Chow, said non-governmental organisations, without mentioning names, sometimes “pluck figures from the sky”.

“I was recently given the latest population figures by the Statistics Department. In 2017, the state’s population stood at 1.7 million.

“Maybe the number has grown to 1.8 million this year. The increase in population is normally 25,000 to 30,000 a year,” he said in his winding up speech at the state legislative assembly this afternoon.

“In 1990, we had 0.7 million people and 28 years on, the number has increased to over 1.7 million. That is more than double.

“By 2030, we estimate the population to reach 2.4 million. Even if we don’t reach that figure, maybe the population will hit 2.2 million or 2.3 million.

“The project delivery partner has been using the existing statistics (for the population forecast),” Chow said, referring to SRS Consortium.

The consortium is also the project delivery partner for the multibillion ringgit Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP). The PSR project is the funding model for the PTMP.

The reclaimed islands will all belong to the state, but Penang is auctioning the right to reclaim the land to fund the components of the PTMP, which includes new highways, roads, a light rail transit (LRT) system and an undersea tunnel.

The state also plans to use land on the reclaimed islands for future developments like housing and economic activities that will generate jobs for the people.

“How are we to cater for the needs of 2.2 million to 2.3 million people? By 2040, we may have a three million population. Can the island accommodate this?” Chow said.

Due to land constraints on the island, he said the state was also looking towards the mainland for future developments.

However, he said the state also had to consider locations and land value, which are more attractive on the island.

“It is not that we are simply planning developments. The NGOs (criticising and opposing the reclamation) may not have to be responsible towards the people.

“But as a state government, we are answerable. We need to have the housing and jobs for the future population,” Chow said.

In his speech, he also said the state government understood the worries of the fishing community in the south, as raised by Permatang Pasir representative Faiz Fadzil.

He said the development could improve the lives of fishermen and locals by giving them new economic opportunities such as aquaculture, deep sea fishing and recreational fishing. – November 16, 2018.