PENANG today unveiled Vision 2030, a 12-year plan toward a family-focused, green and smart state in 12 years.

Four months after taking office, Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said Penang aimed to set an inspiring example for Malaysia.

Chow said Penang 2030 had four themes. The first is to increase liveability to enhance quality of life by addressing housing affordability and diversity; improving public safety, cleanliness, welfare and care systems; and diversifying recreation, sports, arts and culture facilities.

The second is to upgrade the economy to raise household incomes through preparing local manufacturing industries for the digital age and green economy; modernising and diversifying sustainable agriculture; creating more quality tourism projects statewide; and building an ecosystem that nurtures creative industries and niche business services.

The third is to empower the people to strengthen civic participation by uplifting vulnerable communities and reduce inequalities; boosting the participation of youth, women and seniors in community life; creating more platforms for public involvement in social development; and accelerating programme delivery and institutional reform.

Finally, there is a plan to invest in a built environment to improve societal resilience by balancing development through effective spatial planning; strengthen mobility, connectivity and digital infrastructure; and integrate municipal services with smart technologies; and implement climate change adaptation plans.

“Empowering the people will be the hallmark of my administration. It is the goal that underlines everything that we do,” he said at the launch of the state government’s 12-year plan for Penang.

He said the state excos had worked toward such a goal through various initiatives in the 100 days just past of Pakatan Harapan winning Penang for the third term and with the largest ever mandate.

Penang PH, led by DAP, won 37 out of 40 state seats and 11 out of 13 parliamentary seats in  GE14. Barisan Nasional managed to keep two state and two parliamentary seats while PAS won one state seat.

Aside from the ambitious Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) to overcome the state’s worsening traffic woes, PH’s vision for Penang does not include flashy, mega projects.

Chow said the plan was carefully drawn up to focus on family-focused and people-centric policies.

He said these would drive development of sustainable support systems and caring networks for the needy and less fortunate, the youth and the elderly, young entrepreneurs and students.

 “Not only are we continuing with what has been initiated and accomplished over the last 10 years, we are actually taking things to a new level. Our priorities and the assets at our disposal are much clearer to us in the government now, as we move up one more gear in making Penang a model to the nation and the world.

“Our policies will be family-focused. By that, we mean that apart from our policies being people-centric, we are aware that the family is central to everything we do. That is very much a core value for us Malaysians.”

 Public feedback on Penang 2030 may be emailed to state think-tank, Penang Institute at [email protected]. – August 29, 2018.