THE Penang government said it has to build more highways and improve the road system in the state to tackle the worsening traffic problems because the people are not ready to give up their cars and use public transportation.

The state’s Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP), which proposes the building of several highways including an undersea tunnel, has often been criticised by civil society group Penang Forum.

The group is calling for the development of a better public transport system instead of building more roads.

Penang chief minister Chow Kon Yeow said the PTMP was not merely about building more roads, but also proposes a light rail transit from George Town to Bayan Lepas, and monorail lines to help the state achieve a 60:40 mode share.

“The picture painted (by Penang Forum) is not true. Perhaps the rail projects are not highlighted so much because they are for a later phase.

“But we think that even with the LRT, it still will not be enough to solve the traffic jams.

“To get people to switch from using cars to public transport, we need to first have many conditions in place. There will still be many who will drive. For our 60:40 mode share, we will need roads,” he said at the end of a state-organised PTMP forum at Dewan Sri Pinang yesterday.

The forum was attended by over 800 people, many of whom were critical of the master plan and wanted it reviewed with some of its highway components scrapped like the elevated LRT.

Many at the forum raised concerns about air and noise pollution, the social and environmental impact of building more highways, and the cost of building the infrastructure.

But some were also supportive of the PTMP like Ronnie Fong from Batu Ferringhi, who said many parts of the island was unsuitable to build trams and trains.

“We are an old town with old roads. There is no way we can have a public transport on grid that can be efficient. You can’t put a tram on Jalan Burma,” he said, referring to one of the busiest roads in town.

“The down side is some trees and schools will be affected. But there is no way for us to choose, unless we all hang up our car keys. I am sure if I take away all your car keys, you will suffer,” he told the others in the crowd.

Mohd Nasarudin Sultan, who works in the Bayan Lepas industrial zone, said opposers of the PTMP were locals who were not directly affected by the daily traffic jams and whom would not take public transport themselves.

“I want to ask Penang Forum how many of the people, who had signed its petition against the projects, experienced traffic jams for hours daily, and how many of them are willing to take the bus or cycle everyday?” he said.

Chow also said that if the PTMP components did not get federal approval, none of the projects would take off and the state government would have to “go back to the drawing board”.

“How we can implement them is a big challenge. We may not be able to without the approvals,” he said.

He said funding was also an issue, as the state needed to secure approval for the Penang South Reclamation that proposed to create three man-made islands off the southern coast of Penang island.

The islands, which have yet to be approved, would be auctioned off to fund the PTMP projects.

Chow also said it was unlikely the state government will receive the RM1 billion soft loan it had recently asked from Putrajaya.

The soft loan was to allow the LRT and the Pan Island Link 1 highway projects to be built simultaneously.

“There was hope that we can get the loan since we now belong to the same government. But Putrajaya has yet to reply. There is likely no hope (of getting it),” he said. – October 1, 2018.