GEORGE TOWN: The Penang Forum has called on the Pakatan Harapan (PH) state government to review the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP), estimated to cost RM46 billion, in line with the coalition’s pledge to re-examine mega projects in the country.
The coalition of NGOs said given the scale of the project’s funding, the onus was on the state to ensure government procurement produced the best value for taxpayers’ money.
“Penang Forum calls on the PH government, which promises accountability, transparency and openness, to exercise fiscal prudence and to review the present transport proposal in line with PH’s promise to review all mega projects that may not be advantageous to the people,” its steering committee said in a statement today.
Previously, Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow had announced that the state government would prioritise and hasten the implementation of PTMP.
Penang Forum also called for a review and a revisit of the contract- awarding process, which had been based on a request-for-proposal (RFP) rather than an open tender, saying it did not allow for any meaningful comparison of bid documents as the scope of work under the RFP was not fixed.
It said Putrajaya was now in PH’s hands, unlike the situation before the recent general election when the state government had complained of being unable to get funding for projects from the then Barisan Nasional (BN) federal government.
“The present master plan was based on the assumption that buses, ferries and a cross-channel bridge were under federal control and there was nothing the state could do about it,” the committee said.
“So it did not focus on how these could be improved or expanded. But now that circumstances have changed, the plan needs to be revised,” it said.
The PTMP, proposed in 2016, was a mega project put forward by SRS Consortium to the Penang government, it added.
It said the package was over-priced and included many components of mega-road construction that would discourage people from using public transport.
One of the promises in PH’s election manifesto, under “balancing economic growth with environmental protection”, was a commitment to improve public transport, it said.
“Although public consultations have been held about impacts in specific localities, open scrutiny of the whole design was strongly discouraged,” it said.
The committee said that while the original master plan by Halcrow, a UK-based engineering consultant, had involved public consultation, the state “pressured the consultants to add the undersea tunnel and three highways, costing a total of RM6.3 billion, just before it adopted the plan in 2013″.
It claimed that the SRS proposal included a proposal to reclaim 4,500 acres (1,821ha) of land (comprising three islands), which departed drastically from the officially-adopted 2013 Halcrow master plan.
“The massive proposed reclamation will destroy fishing grounds and jeopardise fishing livelihoods and a vital local source of seafood.
“It will be environmentally unsustainable due to expensive maintenance costs (required for dredging) in the future,” it said.
Penang Forum also called on the government to take into consideration rapid changes in public transport technology and new trends in info-mobility.
“It is imperative that any existing plan for public transport should be re-examined.
“A new public transport design has to be integrated to encourage walking, cycling and bus use,” it added.