GEORGE TOWN: The Penang South Reclamation (PSR) project is needed for the state to address the rising sea level caused by climate change, says state executive councillor (exco) Jagdeep Singh Deo.
Jagdeep, who is Penang Housing, Town and Country Planning and Local Government Committee chairman said island states and landlocked states throughout the world had started to seek reclamation to mitigate some of the most severe penalties caused by climate change such as the rising seawater level and temperature.
“There are many ways to combat it, but in an island state (like Penang), rising water is the biggest challenge and (island states) all over the world, they reclaimed around the periphery state of the island to increase the (height) level to protect the existing island from being flooded,” he told a press conference in Sungai Pinang near here.
His comment came to deny a recent claim by a non-governmental organisation that the PSR would worsen the effects of global climate change.
“I fully support the PSR project and make sure it will incorporate climate change control because we are looking at the bigger picture here. I have to do this for the future of Penangites,” he said.
Under the PSR project, the state government planned to reclaim 1,821.085ha of the sea to build three artificial islands stretching from the south of Penang International Airport to the east around Permatang Damar Laut for the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) project.
Earlier, 50 trees were planted during the tree-planting programme themed “Semarak Teduhan Komuniti” in line with World Town Planning Day 2019.
According to Jagdeep, both Penang Island City Council and Seberang Perai City Council would plant 200,000 new trees by 2022, with 100,000 trees for each city council. — Bernama
