FORMER prime minister Najib Razak is wrong about the proposed Pan Island Link 1 (PIL1) project in Penang being more expensive than the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), said Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.

Najib recently accused the Pakatan Harapan government of being hypocritical over its support for PIL1 while criticising the high cost of his administration’s ECRL project, which is now under review.

He said the ECRL would have cost RM55 billion for 688km, or RM80 million per km, but PIL1 would cost RM7.5 billion for 19.5km, or RM385 million per km.

“Such claims are not new, we have heard them even before the general election. We have replied before,” Chow said today.

“But we didn’t expect Najib, the man who held the highest post in the nation, would also be interested in the issue. Thank you for the interest.”

Chow said today Najib should be “comparing an apple with an orange”.

He said there are major differences between the proposed Penang highway and the ECRL, even if both are about the same length and involved tunnels.

“Of course, the ECRL is more expensive at RM55 billion. Ours is RM7 billion or RM8 billion. How can you say ours is more expensive? But do we use this as the comparison?

“Ours is only about 20km compared to ECRL, which is hundreds of kilometres. To compare, we must use the right criteria… not fair if we just compare like that.”

Chow said PIL1 would have twin tunnels – each 15m wide – that would be almost three times the size of the ECRL’s single 11m-wide tunnel.

PIL1 would have 24.5m viaducts (elevated sections of the highway) with six lanes compared with ECRL’s 10.8m viaduct (twin-track railway).

The Penang project was also awarded via open tender while the ECRL was directly negotiated by the former Barisan Nasional government.

PIL1, a RM7.5 billion highway connecting Persiaran Gurney in the north and the second Penang Bridge in the south, is part of the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP).

The 19.5km infrastructure is made up of 70% hill tunnels through Penang Hill and the hills of Paya Terubong and Sungai Ara and a 250m cable-stayed bridge across the popular Youth Park, an important green lung and recreational area on the island.

The proposed highway has attracted a lot of criticism from Penang civil society which urged the state to scrap it.

Residents’ associations held a protest against the project at the state assembly on Monday. Another protest is planned for tomorrow. – August 9, 2018.