Court rejects fishermen’s appeal against Penang reclamation project

The Court of Appeal held that the applicants should have filed their judicial review by Dec 1, 2023, but only did so on Dec 29, 2023.

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal today dismissed an appeal by seven fishermen and two environmental groups seeking to quash the planning permission granted for the Penang South Reclamation project.

A three-member bench comprising Federal Court judge Azimah Omar and Court of Appeal judges Wong Kian Kheong and Ismail Brahim unanimously dismissed the appeal.

Wong, who delivered the court’s decision, said the application was filed out of time.

The court held that the applicants should have filed their judicial review by Dec 1, 2023, but only did so on Dec 29, 2023.

The appeal was brought by fishermen Zakaria Ismail, Ibrahim Che Rose, Azhar Najamudin, Ismail Ahmad, Shahril Rosli, Omar Hassan, and Ramdzan Ishak.

The two NGOs were Sahabat Alam Malaysia, represented by its honorary secretary Mageswari Sangaralingam, and Jaringan Ekologi dan Iklim, represented by its president Khoo Salma.

The fishermen and NGOs had challenged the planning permission granted on Aug 21, 2023 by the Penang town and country planning department director to the Penang government for the project, commonly referred to as Silicon Island.

They contended that the project would cause irreversible environmental damage and affect the livelihoods of the local fishing community.

They also claimed that the approval process had breached provisions under the Town and Country Planning Act 1976 and the Environmental Quality Act 1974.

They alleged, among others, a failure to comply with town planning laws, errors in project referrals, the absence of fresh environmental assessments, and neglect of the project’s impact on the environment and fishermen’s livelihoods.

The fishermen and NGOs sought to invalidate the planning permission, overturn the decision, restore the affected area, and obtain compensation for lost income.

The respondents were the Penang town and country planning department director, the state planning committee, the Penang government, SRS Consortium Sdn Bhd, and Silicon Island Development Sdn Bhd.

The state government said the challenge was filed too late, as the applicants knew about the planning permission by Sept 1, 2023, and should have gone to court by Dec 1, 2023.

It also said that the approval aligned with the Penang State Structure Plan 2030, gazetted on Oct 24, 2019, and that the High Court in George Town found nothing unlawful, unreasonable, or unfair in how the decision was made.

Lawyers Thayalan Muniandy, Theiva Lingam, Jessica Ram Binwani, and A Lalith Kumar appeared for the fishermen and NGOs.

Senior federal counsel Aliza Jamaluddin appeared for the Penang town and country planning department director, while senior legal officer Charanjit Singh appeared for the state planning committee and the Penang government. Yeoh Cho Keong appeared for SRS Consortium and Silicon Island Development.