PENANG: Following the announcement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that the federal government will finance Penang’s light rail transit project, the state government announces that the Penang South Islands (PSI) reclamation project will be downsized.

In a press conference today, chief minister Chow Kon Yeow said the state government and its project delivery partner SRS Consortium had decided to shrink the scale of the project from three islands (A, B and C) to only one (Island A, now renamed Silicon Island) measuring 2,300 acres, instead of the originally planned 4,500 acres.

Chow also said only 115 fishermen at Permatang Tepi Laut would be affected by the reclamation works, down from 496 if works on all three islands were to go ahead.