GEORGE TOWN (May 20): The Department of Environment (DOE) has yet to receive the Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for the Penang Sea Reclamation (PSR) project in the southern waters of Penang based on the original order, said its director-general Norlin Jaafar.

She said the department has not received the EMP based on the original order in line with the concept of the project.

According to her, SRS Consortium (partner of Penang Infrastructure Corp Sdn Bhd) had submitted an EMP report to the Penang DOE, but it did not follow the original order of reclamation as stipulated in the Environmental Impact Assessment report approved on June 25, 2019.

"It is not appropriate for the developer to refer to the EMP report that has been submitted, which can confuse the public. Therefore, the developer must submit the new EMP report according to the original sequence of reclamation to be implemented," she said in a statement today.

Norlin issued a statement in response to a report by a local English-language newspaper titled "Project to create 15,000 jobs" on Monday, which claimed that Penang was now just waiting for DOE's approval to begin the reclamation work.

The report quoted PIC chief executive officer Datuk Seri Farizan Darus as saying the company was now waiting for the DOE to give the "green light" to the EMP, which was expected to be issued at the end of this month before it could implement the project in accordance with the approved guidelines.

The implementation of the PSR of almost 17 sq km involves the development of three artificial islands with a landmass of 1,700 hectares in the waters of Permatang Damar Laut near Bayan Lepas, being built to fund various infrastructure projects in the Penang Transport Master Plan worth an estimated RM46 billion.