PENANG, through the chief minister, today pushed for federal approval for the multibillion Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP).

Chow Kon Yeow (PH-Tanjong), who is also Penang chief minister, highlighted the master plan in his speech at the Dewan Rakyat this afternoon.

In his motion of thanks for the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong’s royal address, he raised the state’s intention to seek financial help from Putrajaya to kickstart two major components of the PTMP.

Chow said he “humbly” asked for funding aid to be approved as well as for support and cooperation from the federal government in developing the ambitious plan foran integrated public transport network to improve Penang’s connectivity and accessibility.

He said the master plan would solve the state’s traffic woes and secure its future by spurring economic growth. 

“Although it is known that the federal government faces financial constraints due to the high debt, the state government intends to seek a RM1 billion soft loan to fund the initial works for two major components in the PTMP.”

The two components are the LRT (light rail transit) linking George Town to Bayan Lepas, and the Penang Island Link 1 (PIL1) highway from Persiaran Gurney to the Penang International Airport in Bayan Lepas.

On Sunday, during a briefing on the PTMP for Penang elected reps, Chow said the soft loan would enable the two projects to be implemented concurrently instead of consecutively.

However, he also said it was more important to first secure approval for the two projects. 

Chow was making the case for the PTMP at a time the project is receiving more public objections than approval.

After the May 9 polls and the change of government in Putrajaya, critics of the PTMP have argued that since the state and federal administrations were now on the same side, the state should focus on public transport – a federal jurisdiction – instead of building more roads.

Penang civil society have also renewed calls to suspend the PTMP for review after it was announced that the PIL1 project involved hill tunnels and a bridge across the popular Youth Park, an important green lung. 

Meanwhile, Chow, who was making his first speech in Parliament in five years, also urged the federal government – now on the same side as the Pakatan Harapan state government – to approve the Penang undersea tunnel and three major highways projects.

The tunnel and three highways are also part of the larger PTMP.

The feasibility study for the tunnel is nearing completion while the three major highways have obtained EIA (environmental impact assessment) approvals.

Chow also urged the federal government to look into the ferry service in Penang, an iconic feature that had not seen much improvement since it was taken over by Rapid Ferry under the government-linked Prasarana.

“We hope there will be a new cooperation to solve the problem and bring back the glory days of the ferry service.

“We hope the federal government can review the ferry service and the proposal to introduce water taxis or catamarans in the near future.

“In fact, Penang will be happy to share information on the water transport service feasibility study the state government has conducted.” – July 24, 2018.