GEORGE TOWN, May 11 — The controversial three-island reclamation project, Penang South Reclamation (PSR), has been reduced to only one island, Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said today.

He said the scope of the project has been reduced by 49 per cent from 4,500 acres to 2,300 acres.

"Only island A, called Silicon Island measuring 2,300 acres, will be reclaimed in two phases involving 10 to 15 years of reclamation works,” he said at a press conference today.

He said the decision to scale down the project was made after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim asked for the project to be scaled down.

Anwar had also announced funding for the state’s Light Rail Transit (LRT) project.

Chow said the planned Islands B and C, covering a total of 2,200 acres, will be shelved.

He said the approved Environmental Impact Assessment for the PSR project was for the three islands of 4,500 acres.

"Silicon Island will remain as a site for the LRT depot covering about 60 acres,” he said.

Silicon Island will also be home to a Green Tech Park and Heart of the Island which will be the economic driver and new tourism product for the state.

"The first phase of Silicon Island will measure about 1,300 acres including the LRT depot and is expected to take between seven and 10 years to complete,” Chow said.

He said the number of fishermen affected will be reduced to about 115 fishermen from the Permatang Tepi Laut unit facing the site of Silicon Island.

"There is almost no impact on fishermen going out to sea and phase two of the Silicon Island will cover about 1,000 acres,” he said.

Overall, the development of Silicon Island including topside development will take about 20 years, he said.

Chow added that SRS Consortium and the state will not be involved in the topside development of the reclaimed land.

"We are only involved in providing infrastructure and amenities such as roads, drainage, 5G connectivity and water supply, and the responsibility of developing the land lies in the successful bidder,” he said.

According to SRS Consortium’s project director Szeto Wai Loong, the model for Silicon Island was to create land parcels that will be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

"The successful bidder will develop the land parcels,” he said.

He said the cost of reclaiming the island is about RM6 billion while the costs of building common infrastructure and amenities on the island will be about RM2.5 billion.

Chow said the state will not be involved in the financing of the reclamation and costs of infrastructure on Silicon Island.

When asked if the cancellation of plans to reclaim islands B and C incurred costs for the state, he said the state did not sign any agreements for the development of the two islands so no costs were incurred.