Close to 100 people gathered outside the state assembly today, urging the Penang government to stop the proposed 20km Pan Island Link 1 (PIL 1) highway project, which would be tunnelled through the hills.
They called for the PIL 1 highway, which has not yet been approved by federal environment regulators, to be shelved pending an independent review by a third party traffic expert.
Some protesters were also upset that proponents of PIL 1 and PTMP in general had said those objecting to the highways were “retirees and elitists”, saying a majority of Penang youths were also against it.
Group spokesman Meenakshi Raman said the situation was filled with irony as Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow had been against a similar highway project for the Penang Outer Ring Road (PORR), mooted about 20 years ago.
Meenakshi said Chow had said in an anti-PORR speech that it would not be a long-term solution for the traffic congestion on the island.
“At that time, Chow himself asked for a total review of the PORR to make sure it served the interest of Penangites. He also said the PORR was turning into a ‘RM5 billion political patronage project’ and doubted its effectiveness.
“All we ask for from the present Penang government led by Chow is to review the project through an independent transport expert to see whether it is worth it.
“Until then, we ask for these monstrous highways to never take off,” she said on the sidelines of the protest.
The group also passed around handouts with Chow’s quotes, lifted from a speech he had made at an anti-PORR event in 2002.
The quotes by Chow read: “The PORR is turning into a RM5 billion political patronage project as its effectiveness in resolving Penang’s traffic problem is still doubtful.
“… the effectiveness of the PORR is now in doubt with the shocking revelation in the Halcrow report on Urban Transport Study that the nightmare of the Penang traffic congestion is likely to be back to square one in less than five years.
“(Then) Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon has not come out to refute the findings of the Halcrow report.
“If the findings of the Halcrow report are true, Koh would be irresponsible in pushing the PORR through as this will not be a long-term solution to the traffic congestion on the island.
“This is why there must be a total review of the PORR to ensure that it serves the interest of Penangites and not the political well-connected company which stands to make RM5 billion from the project.”
The quotes were lifted from Chow’s speech at the launch of the PORR People’s Awareness Exhibition organised by DAP in Penang on May 29, 2002.
The PORR was mooted in the late 1990s as a 17km expressway to connect Tanjung Bungah and Gelugor via George Town. The PIL 1 meanwhile would connect Gurney Drive to the airport down south.
The PORR concession project was given to a private company by then-deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim in 1996.
At the end of 2006, the concession was cancelled by then-prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. An open tender was subsequently called, but Penang was taken over by the DAP-led opposition coalition and the project never saw the light of day.