Penang Forum: Review state Transport Master Plan

KUALA LUMPUR (June 22): The Penang Forum has called for a fresh review of the state’s Transport Master Plan (PTMP) by an international body.

The Penang Forum also proposed scrapping megaprojects such as the RM6.3 billion mega underwater tunnel project and upgrading current facilities like the ferry service, reported the news portal Malaysiakini.

“It focuses too much on megaprojects which may not solve Penang’s transport problems,” steering committee member Lim Mah Hui told the media after meeting the Council of Eminent Persons at Menara Ilham here today.

“Personally, many of us feel there are better ways of dealing with cross-channel traffic such as using and improving the ferry.

“Now that the federal government has control over it, instead of the underwater tunnel, the government should upgrade the ferry,” Malaysiakini reported Lim as saying.

Lim said the main worry was the cost and also how plan would impact the environment

"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 also suggested that international organisations such as the World Bank or the Institute of Transport and Development Planning can conduct an independent review of the PTMP.

The PTMP will cost RM27 billion and encompasses “a holistic and integrated public transport and road network to cater to future travel demands in the next 50 years”, according to the PTMP website.

The plan has however come under fire from civil groups who are worried about the potential impact on the environment as the PTMP involves a massive land reclamation effort.