THE Penang exco for infrastructure and transport, Zairil Khir Johari, has finally conceded that the LRT he has been relentlessly pushing for does not have the ridership to sustain it.  So he has now changed his tune – suggesting that it start as a very light system of two-carriage trains and later be upgraded to “medium” (four or five carriages).  

Whether it is two-carriage trains or ten-carriage trains, about 80% of the RM10.5 billion budget will be paid to the developers/contractors for the infrastructure – the elevated tracts, stations, etc.  These favoured developers will be the real beneficiaries of the project, not the travelling public.       

How did the LRT even get approval if the ridership is not there to keep it floating?

At a public briefing by the consultant who prepared the Penang Draft Local Plan 2030 (since dust-binned due to serious and numerous errors) in December 2022 which I attended, he said that “high density apartments will be built close to the stations to provide ridership”. This is pure speculation without basis. Who are the hundreds of thousands who will be staying in those apartments? Where will they be commuting to daily on the Komtar to Airport line?     

An important question is did the EIA, prepared by consultants engaged and paid for by the developer, give a false representation about the ridership so as to influence the government to give approval? The minister for environment Nik Nazmi is aware of such dubious practices by consultants (Ref: “Nik Nazmi calls out ‘public’ EIA reports that hide vital aspects” – Star, March 19, 2023)

If approval was given based on projected ridership figures justifying the LRT, which Zairil has indirectly admitted are false, then the whole EIA report should be dust-binned and the project scrapped.

It is not as if there are no alternatives to the LRT. Kuching has an ART running and will be expanding the service. Johor was seriously planning for an LRT/MRT but has abandoned the idea in favour of the ART. Putrajaya has LRT/MRT running and now has an ART doing trial runs. Are the transport authorities in these cities so naive about the difference between LRT and ART?

The massive jams in Penang are caused by hundreds of thousands of people crossing the bridge in both directions to work on the island and the mainland. To start with a well-planned ART service can run directly from the mainland to the Bayan Lepas Free Trade Zone (Phase 3 and 4) and vice-versa to remove about 70% of single occupancy motorcars going to the FTZ. One lane of the bridge in each direction can be dedicated for the ART service.

A project based on cooked-up data should be scrapped. – June 10, 2024.

* Ravinder Singh is vice-chairman of PRM Penang.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.