[UPDATED] Penang govt no longer challenging court decision to not reinstate PSI project

PUTRAJAYA – The Penang state government will no longer challenge the high court’s decision to not reinstate the Penang South Islands (PSI) reclamation project.

A three-member Court of Appeal bench led by Datuk Hanipah Farikullah, Datuk Lim Chong Fong and Datuk Azhahari Kamal Ramli ordered the state government to pay RM3,000 in costs to respondent Zakaria Ismail, who heads the Sg Batu Fisherman Unit.

State legal officer Charanjit Singh said Penang’s decision to drop its challenge followed the final approval given by federal environmental regulators in April. 

Zakaria in 2019 had succeeded in setting aside the initial approval given by the federal Environment Department’s (DoE) to the project in 2019, by appealing to the DoE’s appeal tribunal.

This led the state government to initiate a judicial review proceeding at high court to quash the DoE’s decision and reinstate the project. 

The high court dismissed the state government’s application for a judicial review in August last year.

In April, the DoE, which is under the Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Ministry, gave its final approval for the PSI, also setting 71 conditions that the massive reclamation project must comply with.

The PSI project is a state government initiative to finance the RM46 billion Penang Transport Master Plan by reclaiming three islands that covered around 1,620ha off Permatang Damar Laut. 

However, the number of islands (to be reclaimed) has since been reduced to just one.  SRS Consortium Sdn Bhd, the project delivery partner, will reclaim the island together with Gamuda Bhd who is the consortium partner. 

In today’s proceedings, Zakaria was represented by lawyers Jessica Ram Binwani and Theiva Lingam. 

Jessica told reporters after today’s proceedings, that her client had filed a new appeal to the DoE’s appeal tribunal, to challenge the federal government’s approval for the project. 

However, she said, the panel members or date to hear the appeal has not yet been set. – October 19, 2023