Third SEIA is self defeating for TAED as a sign of no go.

Friday, 1 July 2016 ‘Include NGOs on Tg Aru project evaluation panel’ by ruben sario KOTA KINABALU:

 A panel assessing the Special Environmental Impact Assessment (SEIA) report on the controversial Tanjung Aru beach mixed redevelopment project should include credible NGOs, an activist said.

 Save Open Space (SOS) NGO joint-coordinator S.M. Muthu said groups such as the Malaysian Nature Society and Sabah Environmental Protection Association should be on the panel. “We intend to scrutinise the report to ensure that whatever is done has minimum impact on the environment,” he told The Star.

 The project will be undertaken by state-owned Tanjung Aru Eco Development. Project manager Peter Adam said the report would be submitted to the Sabah Environmental Protection Department in September.

 Muthu said SOS had voiced its concerns over the reclamation of hundreds of hectares of beachfront and the creation of an artificial beach. Noting that Tanjung Aru beach was severely affected by erosion, he said the artificial beach would probably end up in a similar situation.

 “From what we understand, the reclaimed beach will not be sustainable and tonnes of sand will be needed to replenish that which is washed away. “The initial report on the project showed that as much as RM40mil is needed for the maintenance of the area and much of this is for the new beach area,” Muthu said.

 SOS and other NGOs have been urging the state government to scrap the project and instead concentrate on rehabilitating Prince Philip Park and the popular Tanjung Aru beach, and to ensure that it remained accessible to the public.

 The redevelopment, to be done over the next three years, will cover some 340ha

. It will include doubling the size of the historic park to about 30ha, with part of it transformed into a rainforest.

 Adam said the park – named after the Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Queen Elizabeth II – would include a promenade, walking and cycling tracks, and an ecology centre.

 He said work would begin early next year and be carried out over four phases, with completion expected in 2019.

 Adam said a 133ha golf retreat, featuring a Greg Norman-designed course, seven hotels with 1,800 rooms in total, as well as about 5,000 apartment and condominium units would also be built.

 A key feature would be a 6km-long and 42m-wide canal fronting the residential lots. “There will also be a 26ha retail and F&B area called Prince Philip Wharf, and a marina to berth up to 200 vessels,”

he added. Mayor Datuk Yeo Boon Hai said the redevelopment of Tanjung Aru was necessary because the area had been eroding away since 1985.