Impact on the coastal areas of the Tanjung Tokong Land Reclamation Project, Penang, Malaysia - Effects on wave transformation, sediment transport, and coastal evolution

Abstract: Rapid development in urban areas of maritime countries may need solutions to address scarcity of land for development and infrastructure. Land reclamation has been an option in many maritime countries, including in Malaysia to overcome this problem. Tanjung Tokong Land Reclamation Project is an ongoing development project in Penang, Malaysia, where housing and commercial properties are constructed on the reclaimed area. The main objective of this study is to determine the effect of the Tanjung Tokong Land Reclamation project on the coastal areas regarding wave transformation, sediment transport, and coastal evolution. However, the effects on the environment and ecosystems are not included. Initially, general coastal processes in Penang were investigated and the project background described to get an overview of the study area. Then, a numerical model, EBED, was employed to simulate the nearshore wave transformation in the specified study area for four different scenarios of incident wave heights and wave directions before and after the project. Based on the EBED simulation results, changes in the wave transformation pattern after the land reclamation project were assessed. Wave transformation for incoming waves from the west was more significantly affected compared to incoming waves from the north and east by the land reclamation. Local sediment transport rates also changed after the project, mainly because of the influence on the incoming local wave height and direction. However, there were no significant differences concerning the local sediment transport direction along the coast after project. The effects on the coastal evolution of the project were increased erosion for waves coming from the west and increased accumulation for waves coming from the east side for particular stretches of coastline in the vicinity of the project site. As an overall conclusion, this study showed that the Tanjung Tokong Land Reclamation Project have an impact on the wave transformation, sediment transport, and evolution of the coastal areas in the vicinity of the land reclamation, but there is limited impact some distance away from the project site.