8/13/2019 4 Paper 4 - Paper by Dato_ Dr Salleh Mohd Nor

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Paper 4

The Proposed Coastal Land Reclamation on the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia

Malaysia's land area will grow by another 97,000 ha when 76 projects of coastal land

reclamation starts. Stretching down the whole West oast, from !"ala #erlis to $ohor

%ar", land will be e&tended some .()m into the Straits of Mela)a, o*er a period of 0

years. +dditionally, some coastal areas off erenggan", #ahang, Sabah and Sarawa) willalso be part of -what seems to be a national reclamation policy.

/istorically, coastal reclamations are cond"cted by local comm"nities for their

agric"lt"ral acti*ities. /owe*er, these reclamations are simple, and limited to the

draining of mangro*es for paddy farming, cocon"t growing, s"garcane plantations and

fishponds. Since the last cent"ry, this type of reclamation has replaced some 60,000 ha of

mangro*es.

1f late, there is a new )ind of reclamation, relating to the d"mping of sand and other

fill material into the sea, th"s e&tending the coastline. 2easons gi*en for this type of

coastal reclamation and de*elopment are economic growth and e&pansion. 1ther reasons

cited are the rehabilitation of m"ddy coastlines, pre*ention of coastal wa*e erosion and

preser*ation of forests, hills and good farmland, and problems of ac3"iring land for

de*elopment.

o a certain e&tent, some of these reasons are j"stifiable. 4or e&ample, if a beach was

earlier eroded, coastal reclamation for the preser*ation of good farmlands and

conser*ation of biodi*ersity in "ni3"e, sensiti*e areas -e.g. colonies of threatened mil)y

stor)s are f"lly j"stified.

%"t on the basis of economic *iability alone, there are certain 3"estions that are not

satisfactorily answered. 4or e&ample, are they really beneficial to the locals5 1r will they

be *iable5 +nd if yes, at what costs5 he most satisfactory approach to answer these

3"estions is perhaps thro"gh a costbenefit analysis.

Malaysia has not reached a stage of critical land shortage for ho"sing and "rbande*elopment. n fact, statistics indicate millions of hectares of "nder "tilised lands. hese

sho"ld be the immediate target for de*elopment rather than coastal land reclamation.

he n*ironmental mpact +ssessment -+ co"ld pro*ide some inp"t on the

possible en*ironmental costs of these reclamation projects. %"t the +s for each project

may be fa"lty as they are prepared in isolation of each other, and ass"mes that there are

no reclamations in adjoining states, e*en tho"gh most of the West oast will be

reclaimed.

Moreo*er, the impact of large coastal land reclamation on tidal flows, are

"npredictable and often not considered. he impacts of s"ch reclamation co"ld be f"rther

along the coast and not necessarily in the *icinity of the act"al reclamation wor).

8"e to synergy, the collecti*e costs of these projects will ha*e greater and longerlasting aftereffects on the en*ironment. 4or all we )now, tropical reclamation of these

magnit"des has ne*er been attempted before. he possibility of a West oast fisheries

crash is *ery real -notwithstanding the loss in archaeological sites and impacts on local

comm"nities and that is not co"nting the f"t"re en*ironmental problems when

commercial and residential de*elopments start on these reclaimed coasts.

hese, s"ch large e&tensi*e coastal land reclamations m"st be carried o"t only after

detailed +:s are appro*ed, and only with ca"tion.

8ato' 8r Salleh Mohd ;or !"ala