Penang Chief Minister Dr Koh Tsu Koon defended the need for 'independent consultants' to advise the government o­n big projects such as the controversial Penang Outer Ring Road.

Koh said the decision to refer to expert opinions was "not something very new" as the government had always asked for impartial opinions, if necessary, to assist in the implementation of any project.

"This is our responsibility, we have a responsibility to the people and the environment, for the people," Koh said in a press conference in Penang today.

"Whatever was revealed in the report recently is not something very new. Just that I have emphasised in certain internal meetings, the need to be doubly careful," he said in the statement faxed to malaysiakini .

Koh was responding to a report in the New Straits Times o­n Monday which said that the state may hire a panel of impartial experts to "lend more credibility" to the implementation of the much-opposed road.