THE public is welcome to view the request for proposal (RFP) submitted by SRS Consortium to win the bid to become the Penang Transport Master Plan’s project delivery partner (PDP), Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said.

“There is nothing preventing us from displaying the RFP documents again.

“Maybe we will arrange the public display from September 1 onwards,” he told a press conference in Komtar today.

The documents in 21 volumes were first displayed for six weeks last year in January and February at Dewan Sri Pinang. 

It was reported that SRS’s submission was chosen by the Penang government from among six bidders.

“There are parties concerned about the master plan, who said we are not transparent. Although it is not required by law, we have agreed to open up the RFP documents.

“Last year we already put up the submitted documents on display. It was never done before, but we did it. Maybe those who accused us of not being transparent had missed it,” Chow said.

Chow said the government could not be putting up documents for public inspection everyday, but was open to doing it again since critics of the PTMP have brought up the matter.

The Penang government has been dealing with criticism from civil groups that are against the PTMP.

Critics said the state government chose SRS as the PDP via RFP and not a transparent open tender.

Civil groups like Penang Forum and residents associations have been objecting the master plan’s Pan Island Link 1 (PIL1) and LRT (light rail transit) projects, arguing that a new highway would put more cars on the road than solve traffic jams and the state would unlikely be able to deliver the kind of high ridership to make LRT viable.

The master plan’s critics said the present version of the PTMP had has deviated from the original plan prepared by the renowned UK-based engineering consultant Halcrow, which proposed a paradigm shift of moving people, not cars.

The Halcrow version had recommended strategies for traffic management policies that reduced further growth of private vehicle activity; better use of existing road and transport networks; and the upgrading existing bus services to BRT services or tram services. It did not recommend building LRT or monorail lines.

The Halcrow plan also recommended improving the ferry services and introducing other water transport services to link George Town to the northern and southern coasts of the state. 

Attention has been on the PTMP in recent months namely since the PIL1 highway’s EIA (environmental impact assessment) report was displayed to the public until earlier this month.

Feedback on the project is being collected for the report until September 24.

The LRT project, which will link Komtar and the Penang airport, is still pending the federal government’s approval, but there was talk that the state might implement both projects concurrently.

The state government is planning more public engagement sessions to explain the PTMP and its components to the people.

The next state government forum on the PTMP is scheduled on September 2. The state is also planning town hall sessions on the PIL1 and the Penang South Reclamation, the funding model for the master plan. – August 23, 2018.