Jelutong landfill and the Karpal Singh Drive reclamation

The Jelutong landfill is a 34-hectare (84-acre) dump on state land beside the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway, three kilometres from George Town's heritage core, that has taken Penang island's waste since the early 1970s. Since 2020 it has been the subject of a RM1 billion joint development agreement under which PLB Engineering Berhad would clean the site up, reclaim an "additional area" from the sea in front of Karpal Singh Drive, and keep most of the resulting land for a mixed development. The reclamation has grown from none in the developer's 2016 tender to 10 acres at the 2020 signing to 70 acres (28.3 ha) in the 2025 environmental impact assessment, which the Department of Environment has declined to approve five times. This page is our standing record of the project: what was agreed, what changed, where it stands and what happens next. The history at the bottom links every step to its source.

As of 24 September 2026

• Status: no rehabilitation or reclamation work has started. The dumpsite stopped taking waste in November 2025. The state executive council granted PLB Engineering another extension of time on 5 August 2026, to 18 October 2026, to obtain the approvals it still lacks
• The EIA: submitted five times (received by the DOE on 3 May 2024, 11 July 2025, 17 October 2025, 26 February 2026 and 18 March 2026) and returned "tidak diluluskan" — not approved — each time. In its July 2025 meeting with residents the DOE said 98.6% of public feedback during the display period opposed the reclamation
• The deal: joint development agreement of 21 February 2020 between the Penang state government, the Penang Development Corporation (PDC) and PLB. PLB rehabilitates the 84-acre site plus the additional area and keeps 75% of the existing site and 70% of any additional area; the state keeps 25% and 30%. PLB's 2021 circular put the rehabilitation works at RM1.01 billion and the "as is" value of its share of the land at RM779 million
• The reclamation: none in PLB's revised July 2016 proposal; "up to 10 acres" for embankment and perimeter works, said Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow at the 2020 signing; 70 acres (28.3 ha) in the EIA displayed in February 2025. The state says 10 acres is a buffer and 60 acres a working platform for 20 sets of recycling machines in enclosed sheds
• The money: RM25 million project management fee to the state, of which RM5 million has been paid; the RM20 million balance was rescheduled by the exco (November 2024 and April 2025) to RM5 million a year starting after the commencement of work — which has not happened. PLB's auditor flagged a material uncertainty over its going concern in each of the FY2023, FY2024 and FY2025 accounts
• The politics: Chow promised residents on 24 June 2025 that no extension would follow if the EIA was not approved by 26 February 2026; extensions followed anyway. Residents' group ProtectKarpal has filed a complaint with the state Public Accounts Committee, won a Freedom of Information ruling on 30 June 2026 that forced release of the agreement, and on 23 September 2026 demanded that the state reject the 70 acres and decide on termination under clause 18.1 before 18 October
• What to watch: 18 October 2026 — an approved EIA, a further extension, or a termination notice

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The site

The Jelutong Waste Disposal Site (Tapak Pelupusan Sisa Jelutong, TPSJ) sits on state land in Section 8, Bandar Jelutong, beside Jalan Perusahaan Jelutong and the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway, with the Karpal Singh Drive waterfront and the Bandar Sri Pinang housing next to it. It opened in the early 1970s as the island's general dump and was run by the island council. Since 2002 only construction and demolition debris, excavated soil and garden waste have been allowed in; it stopped taking anything in November 2025 ahead of the planned rehabilitation. The state describes it as a high-risk site for safety, pollution and geotechnical stability: buried waste, leachate, landfill gas, periodic fires and unstable ground. About 90,000 people live nearby, according to the opposition leader in the state assembly.

Offshore is Middle Bank, roughly 10 square kilometres of the South Channel between the island and the mainland that holds the only seagrass bed in the Straits of Malacca. Residents and the Jelutong MP want it gazetted as a marine sanctuary. The state says gazetting it now would create legal problems for the Jelutong project, the port, an IJM development and Penang World City, all within 500 metres, and that the core of Middle Bank will be protected while nearby projects face strict conditions.

The deal: the 2020 joint development agreement

The state first pledged to rehabilitate the dump when the new government took office in 2008. In 2009 the then Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi described a public park on the site as "a precious gift from the state government to the people"; in 2012 Chow Kon Yeow, then the state exco member in charge, said the site would become "a park and a site for mixed development projects" through landfill mining, with PDC managing the project.

PDC issued a request for proposals to rehabilitate and redevelop the site on 12 March 2015. PLB Engineering's revised proposal of 28 July 2016 contained no sea reclamation. PLB was appointed in 2017, and on 21 February 2020 the state government, PDC and PLB signed a conditional joint development agreement. Under it, PLB:

• carries out the "safe rehabilitation" of the 84-acre existing area and of an additional area "as required and approved by the relevant authorities to secure the perimeters" of the works;
• builds and runs a new integrated recycling centre, on a site PLB procures itself, for construction and demolition, green and excavation waste; and
• develops residential, commercial and tourism projects on "PLB's Entitled Land" — 75% of the existing area and 70% of the additional area. The state keeps the remaining 25% and 30%.

PLB's circular to shareholders of 19 February 2021 set out the economics. A quantity surveyor estimated the rehabilitation works at RM1.013 billion — RM237 million of major works, RM134 million of plant hire, RM264 million of operation and maintenance, RM203 million of finance cost, RM25 million of project management fees to the state, and RM74 million of contingency including RM52 million of performance bonds. Henry Butcher valued PLB's Entitled Land, excluding any additional area, at RM779 million "as is" (19 October 2020). PLB intended to appoint an engineering, procurement and construction contractor to carry the works cost, hold the project through a special-purpose vehicle it owns 51% of, and use phase 3 of the Pulau Burung landfill in Seberang Perai Selatan as an interim site. The additional area was then "estimated to measure approximately 10 acres".

The agreement required PLB to obtain the environmental, traffic and social impact approvals within 18 months, by about August 2021, as conditions precedent. Those conditions have never been met; the deadline has instead been extended repeatedly (see below).

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The reclamation: none, then 10 acres, then 70

At the 2020 signing Chow said "up to 10 acres of additional land would be reclaimed for embankment works and perimeter wall" — the first public mention of reclamation. When the EIA went on public display in February 2025 the additional area had become 28.3 ha (70 acres): a "working platform" to be reclaimed off Karpal Singh Drive and later developed together with the rehabilitated 36.4 ha. Across the two, the EIA's master plan sets aside 13.1 ha for mixed development on 11 plots at a plot ratio of 5:1, 12.1 ha on seven plots for the state, and 20.4 ha on 13 plots for public facilities — schools, a mosque and other amenities. The EIA puts the rehabilitation at five to six years and the development at another 20.

The state's explanation came in Chow's statement of 3 June 2026, after Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng asked why the reclamation had never been tendered: the 28.3 ha is not a new project but the "implementation mechanism" of the safe-closure project that went through the 2015 RFP. About 4 ha (10 acres) is a buffer to stabilise the site's perimeter, and about 24 ha (60 acres) is needed for 20 sets of recycling machines inside enclosed temporary buildings, because landfill gas makes open-air recovery unsafe. Any works in the additional area remain subject to approvals, and none have begun.

ProtectKarpal's reply, in its statements of 14 and 23 September 2026, rests on the agreement itself, which it obtained through a Freedom of Information appeal. Clause 1.1.1 defines the additional area as land rehabilitated "as required and approved by the Relevant Authorities to secure the perimeters for the purpose of the Developer carrying out and completing the Rehabilitation Works only". A need for waste-processing space, the group argues, is not a need for perimeter security, so the authorities should approve only the acreage a perimeter actually needs. It also warns that using material recovered from the dump as reclamation fill risks "another landfill within the reclaimed coastline" unless the fill is independently tested. Clause 18.1, it adds, lets the state terminate on 30 days' notice in the state or public interest, and clause 18.2 leaves that judgement to the state.

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Five EIA rejections, and the extensions

The DOE's EKAS register shows PLB's EIA received on 3 May 2024, 11 July 2025, 17 October 2025, 26 February 2026 and 18 March 2026, each with the status "tidak diluluskan". The public display in February 2025 drew a 98.6% rate of objection, the DOE told ProtectKarpal when the group handed over its memorandum in July 2025. The New Straits Times reported the "not approved" status on 10 March 2026; exco member H'ng Mooi Lye told the state assembly on 13 May 2026 that the rejection was "not final", that the report needed improving to meet the DOE's technical comments, and that the project had not been scrapped because the old landfill's fire, gas, leachate and ground-stability problems made it important.

The extensions are the political sore. Chow told a ProtectKarpal delegation on 24 June 2025 that there would be no further extension if the EIA was not approved by 26 February 2026 — a commitment reported in the state's own Buletin Mutiara. The date passed with the fourth submission unapproved; a fifth was lodged in March and rejected too. Chow said on 12 July 2026 that the state had already granted five extensions and would set one final deadline, after which the project would not continue under PLB. ProtectKarpal counts eight extensions in PLB's Bursa filings — October 2020, October 2021, August 2022, February 2023, June 2024, December 2024, April 2025 and May 2026. On 5 August 2026 the exco granted the latest, to 18 October 2026, "to ensure that all conditions stipulated by the relevant technical agencies are fulfilled" (H'ng, 10 August).

The money, the developer and the watchdogs

PLB Engineering Berhad (Bursa Malaysia: PLB, 7055) is a Perai-based construction, property and waste-management group with 112.4 million shares; at RM0.86 a share it is worth about RM97 million, roughly an eighth of the value the 2021 circular put on its Jelutong entitlement. Its auditor, Grant Thornton Malaysia, flagged a material uncertainty related to going concern in the FY2023, FY2024 and FY2025 accounts (financial years to 31 August). ProtectKarpal cites group net losses of RM28.0 million in 2023 and RM12.8 million in 2024 and a company-level loss of RM17.5 million in 2025, with current liabilities exceeding current assets by RM82.4 million, RM54.8 million and RM71.2 million. The first three quarters of FY2026 (to 31 May 2026) show revenue of RM87.9 million and net profit of RM13.3 million.

The project management fee is the second dispute. The 2021 circular described RM25 million payable in instalments at 6, 12, 24, 36 and 48 months from the agreement date. RM5 million was paid in 2021. Lim Guan Eng said in late May 2026 that PLB owed PDC RM20 million and asked why PDC had not sued; Chow replied that exco decisions in November 2024 and April 2025 rescheduled the balance to RM5 million a year from 30 days after the commencement-of-work notice, so nothing is due and PDC has "no cause of action". ProtectKarpal asked the Public Accounts Committee on 13 May 2026, and again in a supplementary complaint in June, to investigate PDC's handling of the agreement. It also points to PLB Terang Sdn Bhd, a PLB subsidiary, whose services at phase 3 of the Pulau Burung landfill the state ended after non-compliances and delays, followed by a reported RM35 million settlement [CHECK: the PLB Terang / Pulau Burung settlement figure comes from ProtectKarpal citing "public reports"; not yet verified against a primary source].

On 30 June 2026 the Penang Freedom of Information Appeals Board, chaired by K Kumaraendran, ordered the state secretary's office to release the full agreement to ProtectKarpal's former chair AD Chandrasekaran, finding that the state had not shown how disclosure would harm it. The main agreement has been released; the schedules and appendices have not.

Who is who

• Chow Kon Yeow — Chief Minister and PDC chairman; signed the 2020 agreement, made the June 2025 no-extension promise and issued the 3 June 2026 defence of the 70 acres
• H'ng Mooi Lye — state exco for local government, town and country planning; announced the extension to 18 October 2026
• Penang Development Corporation — the state's implementing agency and trustee for the site; party to the agreement and recipient of the management fee
• PLB Engineering Berhad — the developer [CHECK: add the group managing director's name from the FY2025 annual report]
• Protect Karpal Singh Drive Action Committee (ProtectKarpal) — residents' group under the Bandar Sri Pinang Pulau Pinang Residents' Association; chair Dr K Ganesh, former chair AD Chandrasekaran
• RSN Rayer — Jelutong MP, who asked Chow to honour his promise and to gazette Middle Bank
• Lim Guan Eng — Bagan MP and former chief minister, who raised the tender and fee questions in May 2026

Why it matters for property

If the project proceeds as displayed, it creates 64.7 ha of flat seafront land on the doorstep of George Town — 36.4 ha of rehabilitated dump and 28.3 ha of new land — with 13.1 ha of it set aside for mixed development at a plot ratio of 5:1, next to the Karpal Singh Drive food strip, Bandar Sri Pinang, Penang World City and The Light. If it is terminated, the state takes back a closed but unremediated dump and the question of who pays for a safe closure without reclamation. Either way the outcome will be read alongside Penang Silicon Island as a test of how far reclamation can go on the island.

[SCOTT: your take — what a Jelutong seafront mixed-development site would mean for Karpal Singh Drive and Bandar Sri Pinang values, whether the old Jelutong industrial lots beside the expressway gain or lose, and what you would tell a client asking about land nearby before 18 October.]

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History

Newest first. Each line links to its source, and to our own post where we have one.

• 23 September 2026 — ProtectKarpal demands that the state reject the 70 acres, confine any additional area to clause 1.1.1's perimeter purpose, test the fill and decide on clause 18.1 before 18 October. Our post · Aliran, 23 September 2026
• 17 September 2026 — ProtectKarpal challenges Chow's "legal complications", citing clauses 18.1 and 18.2. The Sun, 17 September 2026
• 14 September 2026 — ProtectKarpal asks why the reclamation grew from 4 ha to 28 ha. FMT, 14 September 2026
• 10 August 2026 — H'ng announces the exco's 5 August decision: extension to 18 October 2026. ProtectKarpal says it breaks the June 2025 promise. Malay Mail, 10 August 2026 · FMT, 10 August 2026
• 12 July 2026 — Chow: five extensions granted so far; one final deadline to come; without approval the project will not continue under PLB. The Star, 12 July 2026
• 30 June 2026 — The FOI Appeals Board orders release of the agreement; on 3 July Chow says the state will study the order. FMT, 30 June 2026 · The Star, 3 July 2026
• 16 June 2026 — Chow: H'ng has conveyed the state's recommendations to PLB; a decision follows PLB's reply. FMT, 16 June 2026
• 3–4 June 2026 — Chow's statement: the 28.3 ha is part of the project tendered in 2015; 4 ha buffer, 24 ha for recycling sheds; the RM20 million fee is not yet due. EdgeProp, 4 June 2026 · The Star, 4 June 2026
• Late May – 2 June 2026 — Lim Guan Eng says PLB owes PDC RM20 million and should be sued; ProtectKarpal files a supplementary PAC complaint. Aliran, 2 June 2026
• 8–20 May 2026 — H'ng: the fifth rejection; the exco to consider PLB's extension request and a revised scope that adds a public park on 20 May. ProtectKarpal calls the park "greener packaging" for the same project. Oriental Daily, 8 May 2026 · China Press, 10 May 2026
• 13 May 2026 — H'ng tells the assembly the project is not scrapped and explains why Middle Bank will not be gazetted yet; ProtectKarpal files its PAC complaint and residents protest at the assembly. FMT, 13 May 2026
• 30 April 2026 — ProtectKarpal reports the fifth "tidak diluluskan" on the EKAS register (submission of 18 March) and gives Chow until 7 May to respond. Sin Chew, 1 May 2026
• 11 March 2026 — Jelutong MP RSN Rayer asks Chow to honour his promise; ProtectKarpal lists the four rejection dates. Malay Mail, 11 March 2026
• 10 March 2026 — NST reports the "not approved" status on the DOE website. NST, 10 March 2026
• 26 February 2026 — Chow's deadline passes with the fourth EIA, received that day, unapproved. Aliran, 12 March 2026
• 24 December 2025 — PLB's auditor flags going-concern uncertainty for the third year running. Bursa filing, via KLSE Screener
• November 2025 — The dumpsite ceases operations; 20 residents petition the assembly against the reclamation. NST, 10 March 2026
• 11 July and 17 October 2025 — Second and third EIA submissions; both not approved. Sin Chew, 1 May 2026
• 4 July 2025 — The DOE tells ProtectKarpal that 98.6% of display-period feedback opposed the reclamation. The Vibes, 4 July 2025
• 24 June 2025 — Chow to ProtectKarpal: no extension if the EIA is not approved by 26 February 2026. Aliran, 12 March 2026
• February–April 2025 — EIA on public display from 12 February; objections accepted into April. Scoop, 7 April 2025 · Penang Property Talk, March 2025
• 20 December 2024 — Second going-concern flag (FY2024 accounts). Bursa filing, via KLSE Screener
• 3 May 2024 — First EIA submission; not approved. Malay Mail, 11 March 2026
• 14 February 2024 — First going-concern flag (FY2023 accounts). Bursa filing, via KLSE Screener
• 19 February 2021 — PLB's circular to shareholders: RM1.01 billion of works, RM779 million land value, 75%/70% entitlement, additional area about 10 acres. PLB circular (PDF)
• 21 February 2020 — Joint development agreement signed; Chow: up to 10 acres to be reclaimed. Bursa announcement, via KLSE Screener
• 2017 — PLB appointed after the RFP. Scoop, 7 April 2025
• 28 July 2016 — PLB's revised proposal, with no reclamation. Aliran, 12 March 2026
• 12 March 2015 — PDC's request for proposals. Aliran, 12 March 2026
• 2012 — Chow, then exco: a park plus mixed development through landfill mining, PDC to manage. Aliran, 12 March 2026
• 2008–2009 — The new state government pledges rehabilitation; Jeff Ooi's "precious gift" park. Aliran, 12 March 2026
• Early 1970s — The dump opens; from 2002 only construction and garden waste. FMT, 10 August 2026

Update log

• 24 September 2026 — Page created. Baseline: five EIA rejections, extension to 18 October 2026, ProtectKarpal's 23 September demands, the 2021 circular's numbers.

*Cover photo: Free Malaysia Today (file photo). Maps: EPIQ via EdgeProp; EIA master plan via Penang Property Talk; EIA phasing map via Aliran. Timeline graphic: industrialandland.com.my. This page is updated in place; see the update log for what changed and when.*