THE federal government will not support projects that are detrimental to the people, said Prime Minister Najib Razak, in reference to the Penang South Reclamation project proposed by the state’s Pakatan Harapan government.

The ambitious project to reclaim 1,800ha off the southern coast of the island, or up to three man-made islands, has been rejected by fishermen, who protested that their livelihoods would be affected.

Najib’s remark comes following Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s statement that PH would review “unnecessary” mega-projects should the opposition pact take over Putrajaya in the next general election.

The former prime minister, at a forum on the impact of Chinese investments in Malaysia, had cited the “wasteful” RM55 billion East Coast Rail Link and RM60 billion Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail projects.

Najib, who attended a “Jamuan Rakyat” with locals in Balik Pulau this afternoon, said projects must not have a negative impact on the people or cause them huge losses.

“Concerning this matter (Penang South Reclamation project), there are 1,500 fishermen (who would be affected). It would be like throwing sand into their rice bowls. The project should not be implemented.

“Projects should be environmentally friendly. If there are other alternatives available, we should look at them too and save funds.

“If the people’s interests are jeopardised, we should not support the project,” he said to a crowd of a few thousand people.

The proposed reclamation project is part of the RM27 billion Penang Transport Master Plan.

Najib said he did not want the federal government’s stand to be misunderstood.

“I don’t want it to be perceived that because of politics, we reject their (PH’s) plan because Penang is under the opposition. If it were as such, we would not be bringing projects to Penang.

“Our stand is that projects cannot be detrimental to the locals.”

Earlier, Balik Pulau Umno division chief and Deputy Health Minister Dr Hilmi Yahaya mentioned the Penang South Reclamation project in his speech at the event.

He said the 1,500 fishermen against the project were present at the event, organised by his Umno division.

The federal government has given the fishermen RM4.5 million in living allowance. – August 26, 2017.