PENANG Forum wants the Department of Environment to appoint an independent technical review committee to assess the Pan Island Link 1’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) report.

Dr Lim Mah Hui from the group said the independent and professional committee should not include proponents of the project.

“This is so that there will not be pressure…this is a new Malaysia.

“We have already concluded that building the highway will not solve traffic jams, and the EIA has not considered or evaluated other options like public transport.

“Its need is not justified; and the safety, social, health and environmental costs are too high and have not been satisfactorily estimated,” he told a press conference today.

The civil group critical of the project, which is part of the larger Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP), has claimed that the EIA report done by Wiranda (M) Sdn Bhd is flawed.

Wiranda is the consultant hired by SRS Consortium, the project delivery partner of the PTMP, with the consent of the state government to prepare the EIA report, which is required for the highway’s approval by federal authorities.

The EIA was open to public scrutiny recently, and Penang Forum representatives today argued that the DOE should evaluate their submissions “on professional and scientific grounds, and without political considerations”.

The group had assembled a team of over 30 professionals, including those with PhD and Masters qualifications, to assess the EIA on the proposed 19.5km highway from Persiaran Gurney to Sungai Ara.

Penang Forum has also recently sent DoE over 2,000 letters signed by the people objecting against the project, which consist of 70% hill tunnels.

Earlier, soil expert Dr Kam Suan Pheng said  the EIA report had allegedly failed to address significant costs and externalities of the project.

 Among the impacts of the project Penang Forum pointed out are the air and noise pollution to schools near the highway alignment, disruption to communities, soil erosion, loss of mature trees, landslides due to hill cutting, geological risks due to the building of tunnels through the hills, and future maintenance of the infrastructure.

“The government will be responsible to maintain PIL1. The estimated annual cost will be over RM50 million, which is 0.7% of the project’s capital expenditure.

“The money is not going to come from the Penang South Reclamation (PSR). The government will also need the expertise and competence to maintain the highway,” Dr Kam said.

PSR refers to the proposed reclamation of three islands off the southern cost of Penang island. The reclaimed land will be auctioned off to fund the PTMP components.

Khoo Salma Nasution, another Penang Forum representative, said the findings of the review committee and the DoE should be made public.

If the DOE disregarded the raised concerns, the department should explain in detail and provide the justification, she said.

Professor Laura Lucero, a retired academic from the University of New Mexico in the United States, said an EIA needed to present alternatives.

She also said not looking at public transport alternatives would undermine Malaysia’s climate change goals. – October 12, 2018.