The huge Forest City project that will be taking shape off Tanjung Kupang, near here, will not damage the ecosystem between Malaysia and Singapore, state company Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor Sdn Bhd (KPRJ) said.
Before the reclamation works for the man-made island started, Country Garden Pacific View (CGPV) had conducted several tests on the possible environmental impact to the surrounding areas, said Datuk Md Othman Yusof, executive vice-chairman of KPRJ, one of the stakeholders in CGPV.
“We appointed a consultant to carry out hydraulic works to see whether the island will affect the water currents in the designated area.
“The test results proved Forest City will not have a negative impact on the environment,” he told a press conference at the KPRJ office in Danga Bay here yesterday.
“Furthermore, the first phase of the reclamation work is for a 49ha to build our showroom,” he said.
The 2,000ha project – expected to involve the biggest man-made island in the region with a size larger than Pangkor Island – had also raised eyebrows across the causeway.
The Singapore government was reportedly perturbed over the project, which would take three decades to complete, because of the massive reclamation involved.
Furthermore, Singapore said there were international obligations that both countries had to be concerned about.
At around the same time, the Department of Environment (DOE) issued a temporary stop-work order on the reclamation works, pending a detailed study.
