A PENANG resident has started a petition to lobby support for the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP), which includes a light rail transit (LRT) system for the traffic-choked island.

Jinh Ung, of George Town, initiated the petition yesterday calling for work on the LRT and an alternative highway to be expedited. 

The petition has received 1,400 signatures as of 9.30pm today.

It follows last Friday’s meeting between the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) and the Penang Forum steering committee, which has been critical of some parts of the master plan, in Kuala Lumpur.

Ung said the Penang Forum, a coalition of civil society groups in Penang, did not represent Penangites or their interests.

“We can speak for ourselves,” the petitioner wrote, arguing the PTMP must be implemented to resolve the state’s traffic woes.

Ung called on the CEP and Transport Ministry to meet with the Penang government to discuss and deliberate the PTMP, and to consider the plight of millions of Penangites “suffering from traffic congestion.

“(Do) not be swayed by NGOs who claim to represent Penangites and criticise the PTMP without having conducted due diligence, proper studies or (exercising) sound judgement.”

In the petition, Ung writes about the average Penangite’s daily experience of driving from George Town to work in the Bayan Lepas industrial zone, calling the commute with traffic at a crawl “no fun, not to mention unproductive”.

“Worse still, during morning and evening peak hours, Friday evenings, public holidays or heavy rain, the worsening traffic jam on the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway can take more than three hours. 

“That’s only for a stretch of less than 15km, a distance that would otherwise need only 15 to 20 minutes. This is the life of the average Penangite living on Penang island.”

Ung also spoke for those on mainland Seberang Prai and in neighbouring Kedah and Perak, who travel daily to the island for work.

“Their commuting time is worse than those living on Penang Island. I have endured this horrific jam since I started working more than 10 years ago.”

The petitioner said the Penang government was working to resolve the traffic problem with the Bayan Lepas LRT and the Pan-Island Link (PIL) Highway. 

Ung said the state government had also explained the master plan to the people in town hall sessions.

“I would more than welcome a fast, efficient and reliable public transport system like the Bayan Lepas LRT that links the north and south of Penang Island and a new second highway as an alternative to the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway, any time.

“Penangites need a solution to the traffic congestion – fast.”

And all the talk from thr NGOs was not helping but making the situation worse, he said.

The PTMP is a RM27 billion plan until 2030 for the state’s public transport network, highways, and traffic management strategies to tackle traffic congestion.

After meeting with the CEP, Penang Forum representative Dr Lim Mah Hui said the committee supported the master plan but felt the the present version was too expensive and might not meet the objective of solving the island’s transport problems.

He said the main concerns were its costs and its effect on the environment.

“All we are asking is that the state government considers getting an independent review by a global authority on the present status of the transport plan.

“We are all for a public transport system, but it should not be a mega project. It should be a seamless comprehensive system that at the end of the day covers the last mile and is accessible to everyone,” Lim was quoted as saying. – June 26, 2018.