THE Penang government has not thought of an alternative funding model for its multi-billion ringgit Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP).

Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the funding model was still the Penang South Reclamation – the massive plan to reclaim three islands off the southern coast of the island.

The reclaimed islands would be auctioned off to pay for the PTMP, which means the approval of the PSR is crucial in determining the fate of the transport master plan.

“We need the reclamation to be approved before we can start,” he told a press conference at Komtar today.

Chow had earlier announced that the PTMP’s Pan Island Link’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) second schedule report was open for public viewing.

The ambitious PTMP is undertaken by project delivery partner SRS Consortium, which Chow said had yet to be paid a single sen for the project.

“SRS has not been paid until today. If the EIA is approved, but the reclamation is not, then we will have a situation.

“We may have to find funding or even hand over the project to the federal government for implementation,” he said.

Last year, the Penang legislative assembly passed an enactment to enable the state to take loans from the Export-Import Bank of China for the PTMP. The loan would be a bridging fund for the proposed PSR islands. – July 13, 2018.