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THE Karpal Singh Drive residents' action group plans to hold another protest against the proposed reclamation and rehabilitation of the Jelutong landfill, which is located next to their neighbourhood.
The protest, according to the chairperson of the action group, Dr K. Ganesh, is scheduled to begin at 8 am on Wednesday.
Penang’s 15th state legislative assembly is on until Friday - the first sitting this year, and a session held under a heightened political level due to the possibility of a general election later this year.
Ganesh said that all civil society members and the residents are welcome to attend the protest, which is aimed at generating attention to the plight.
The group wants the state to discard the proposed reclamation of the landfill and to find other ways to rehabilitate the landfill, which was closed down a decade earlier.
Last year, the group similarly held a small protest outside the legislative building.
The Department of Environment (DOE) had earlier rejected for the fifth time the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report, submitted by the main contractor, PLB Engineering Berhad.
Penang, through its state executive councillor Jason H'ng Mooi Lye, who oversees the local government portfolio, said that the landowner, the Penang Development Corporation (PDC), was studying the technical aspects and may offer an alternative proposal to the DOE.
Meanwhile, state Opposition Leader Muhammad Fauzi Yusoff, who is also the Penang PAS commissioner, confirmed meeting with the action group representatives last week.
Fauzi said Perikatan Nasional (PN) is supportive of the group's efforts to reject the entire project in the name of environmental preservation.
One of the contentious issues is whether the reclamation would harm the Middle Bank Marine Seagrass Sanctuary, which is home to various wildlife.
Fauzi, the Sungai Dua assemblyman, said that the state needs to find other ways to rehabilitate the landfill. - May 11, 2026.
