PENANG Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow dismissed the notion that the federal government is favouring Kedah more than his state with the allocation of RM3 billion in projects.

This comes after Putrajaya’s announcement yesterday of high-impact projects for Kedah, including Kulim International Airport.

Chow said Penang also has billions worth of projects in the pipeline as a member state of the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER).

“The news of the Kulim airport and other projects have attracted a lot of attention in the news. Some are comparing Kedah and Penang.

“While Penang waits for a soft loan of RM1 billion for years, Kedah gets over RM3 billion in projects. (They say) it is as if Penang is made a stepchild.

“Under the NCER, Penang is also a logistic hub for the northern region. We cannot give the picture that Penang is getting nothing.

“It is just that the minister (Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali) did not make an announcement for Penang,” he said in a press conference today.

Chow said that in a Monday meeting with the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA), all member states from Perlis to Perak had a list of proposed projects.

Penang has several ongoing projects like the NCER Seed Centre and Collaborative Research in Engineering, Science and Technology.

New projects include a trumpet interchange in Batu Kawan, Industry 4.0 programmes for small and medium enterprises, the Penang International Airport and Swettenham Pier Cruise Terminal expansions, the extension of the Northern Corridor Highway to the Second Penang Bridge, aquaculture projects in Balik Pulau, tourism projects, and others.

Yesterday, Azmin announced the high-impact Kedah projects in the midterm review of the 11th Malaysia Plan yesterday. Kulim Airport is one of the main projects.

Chow said the Kulim airport, according to the NCIA, would be a private initiative. Its terminal and residential component will be a private initiative, while the external infrastructure will be handled by the government.

“At the meeting, I asked why they did not include our Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) on the list of projects as well.

“They had included the Kulim airport, a private initiative, into the Kedah list. But the PTMP is a Penang government initiative. I asked them to include the master plan.

“If we put PTMP in, Penang has some RM50 billion worth of projects. You can’t say we have nothing in the pipeline… we have much more than Kedah.” – March 20, 2019.