THE Tanjung Bungah Residents Association (TBRA) today called on new Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow and his administration to be transparent on the need to build the North Coastal Paired Road (NCPR).

The association said the state should be open about the road’s implications for residents, what alternatives the state had considered but were not feasible, and how the State Action Plan (SAP) addressed the public’s concerns.

TBRA chairman Meenakshi Raman said it learnt that the SAP was a requirement imposed by the Environmental Department (DoE) to ensure that issues raised by the public concerning the project were addressed before the approval of the environmental impact assessment (EIA).

“We urge the chief minister to make the SAP public, so that we can assess if our concerns have been addressed effectively and give feedback.

“We also want to know if the SAP has addressed concerns arising from the most recent floods and landslides that occurred on November 5 following heavy rains, which involved parts of the areas along the proposed NCPR alignment in Tanjung Bungah.

“This must be done urgently, prior to the commencement of any works on the NCPR… This is in line with the spirit of the state government and the new Pakatan Harapan manifesto of being transparent and accountable to the rakyat,” she said in a statement.

The NCPR is an alternative route linking Teluk Bahang and Tanjung Bungah in the north of Penang Island.

It is one of the three major highways that are part of a multi-billion-ringgit mega project that also includes an undersea tunnel linking Butterworth on the mainland and Gurney Drive on the island.

On Monday, after he was sworn in as chief minister, Chow said the state is looking into the implementation of two of the three highways, which have obtained EIA approval. One of them is the NCPR.

Meenakshi said concerns about the project had been raised before to the state and DoE, with the “serious environmental and social impact” of the NCPR on thousands of residents living along the road alignment highlighted.

She said the EIA showed that 46% of the proposed road would be on terrain with a slope of more than 25° and well known to be “sensitive hill land”.

She said it is also unclear how the state proposes to disperse traffic from the NCPR that would end in Lembah Permai in Tanjung Bungah to Straits Quay.

She added that the NCPR would cut travel time by 14 minutes for people travelling between Teluk Bahang and Tanjung Bungah at a cost of RM1 billion in the beginning, but that, too, would be gone as the road generates more traffic in the years to come.

In Tanjung Bungah, developmental concerns are hot issues, and were raised by residents, civil groups and the Barisan Nasional opposition during the 14th general election.

During the campaign period, TBRA urged polls candidates to respect the environment and say “no” to development projects on hill slopes.

PH candidate Zairil Khir Johari, of DAP, won in the elections. He is now public works, utilities and flood mitigation exco. – May 18, 2018.