PETALING JAYA: A group of civil society organisations has called on Anwar Ibrahim’s administration to review the RM46 billion Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP).
The group said the government should engage international experts on sustainable mobility, such as New York-based non-profit Institute of Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), to review the “bloated” plan.
“Please subject the PTMP to international review by a genuinely independent body of sustainable mobility experts. Surely, that is not asking too much, given the tens of billions of ringgit at stake,” it said in a statement.
The group includes Penang Forum, the Consumers’ Association of Penang, and the Penang Public Transport Users Association.
When the then Pakatan Rakyat took over the Penang government in 2008, it looked to alleviate the state’s congestion problem by forming a transport council comprising experts and NGOs to develop a transport master plan.
This resulted in three companies – Halcrow Consultants Sdn Bhd (transport and infrastructure planning), AJC Planning Consultants Sdn Bhd (land use planning) and Singapore Cruise Centre Pte Ltd (water taxi and pier) – proposing improved bus services, trams and ferries and more highways in 2012.
However, the state government rejected these plans and called for a proposal for the project, which saw SRS Consortium winning the bid through its finance model which would monetise the reclamation of three islands off the southern coast of Penang to find the PTMP.
SRS Consortium’s plan was to build highways, a light rapid transit system (LRT) and a modern bus rapid transit system (BRT), among other measures, to alleviate traffic on the island and mainland.
However, the civil society organisations said today the focus should be on building an effective bus system in Penang, and later upgrading the railway as and when the need arises, to improve first and last mile connectivity.
They also pointed out that Penang had fewer than 400 buses, compared to Singapore’s progress where its bus service “drastically improved” long before the country started its MRT system with almost 6,000 buses today carrying more passengers than the MRT.
“This would cost only a fraction of the PMTP,” the group said.
It also highlighted the need to maximise the potential of water transport in the state given that much of it is so close to the sea.
