The proposed Maharani Energy Gateway project in Muar, Johor will involve creating three man-made islands covering an area of 1,295 hectares, and making it into an energy hub and deep-sea port. It's expected that the main activities involved in the reclamation stage for the man-made islands are the transportation of sea sand from Malacca, sand filling work, compaction, and bank revetment works. Sahabat Alam Malaysia recently assessed the quality of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the project, and are of the opinion that it is far from adequate, and cannot be approved as it exists. Among other reasons, they cite legal and policy matters, loss of fishing grounds and hindrance of access to the sea for fisher groups, and a lack of a comprehensive economic valuation assessment and cost and benefit analysis. We discuss this and more with Meenakshi Raman, the President of Sahabat Alam Malaysia.

Image credit: Enviro Knowledge Management Center (EKMC)