Reclamation is widely applied in Malaysia to acquire additional coastal land for a variety of development purposes ranging from port and industrial projects over housing to resorts. Negative impacts from past poorly planned and/or executed reclamation projects and growing environmental awareness have raised the concern over potential negative impacts with the public as well as the authorities. This has emphasized the need for a comprehensive assessment of both short term and long term effects of the reclamation on the surrounding environment and optimisation of the reclamation configuration to optimise the positive benefits and minimise negative impacts to achieve environmental approval.

Reclamation projects will locally change wave, current and sediment transport patterns, which may lead to impacts on for instance coastline stability, beach quality, water quality and drainage patterns. There is usually significant scope for reducing any negative impacts and/or increasing positive impacts through both site selection and design optimisation, and it is strongly recommended that the hydraulic experts are included in the study team at an early planning stage to facilitate such benefits. An example of optimisation of a reclamation to achieve positive benefits could for instance be the design of high quality, stable beaches og high recreational and tourism value (see also “Water Front Development).

DHI has over it’s 15 years presence in Malaysia and through participation in a large number of coastal projects developed a unique knowledge of the Malaysian coastline. This, combined with a comprehensive range of state of the art numerical modelling tools, field survey techniques and management methods that have been applied on a wide range of projects throughout Malaysia and the region puts DHI in an exceptional position to provide consultancy advice on reclamation projects.

Any significant reclamation project in Malaysia required EIA approval. DHI Malaysia has in-house the expertise required to carry out a full range of reclamation associated studies ranging from feasibility over EIA to environmental management. DHI is a recognised expert within environmental management involving dredging/reclamaton and has EIA consultants registered with the Department of Environment Malaysia, Environment Protection Department Sabah and the Natural Resources and Environment Board Sarawak. DHI is assisting authorities in developing guidelines for numerical studies of coastal projects as well as EIA preparation for dredging and reclamation projects.

In addition to the potential longer term impacts, reclamation projects also pose significant shorter term risks of impacts, for instance through release of fine sediments into the marine environment. Larger reclamations usually involve dredging for one or more of the following activities: Removal and disposal of soft overburden, establishing navigation channels or for sand sourcing for the reclamation. For details on DHI expertise in this field, please refer to “Dredging and Spill Management”.