GEORGE TOWN, Aug 9 — The state chapter of the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) and a group of factory workers sent authorities their respective petitions in support of the controversial the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) today.
A spokesman for the workers, Mohd Nasarudin Sultan, said he has collected signatures from 1,011 people at factories in Batu Maung and Bayan Lepas expressing a desire to see the infrastructure project realised.
“We are fully supportive of the Pan Island Link 1 (PIL1) and the light rail transit (LRT) projects as most of us working in Bayan Lepas and Batu Maung have to face two hours of traffic congestion to get to work daily,” he told reporters outside the state legislative assembly this morning.
He claimed he is representing all affected factory workers including managers and engineers in submitting the petition to the state government.
Mohd Nasarudin further said they wanted the PMTP expedited and were baffled by the opposition to the project.
“The other group held protests against the project and we were worried that the project might be cancelled so we decided to start a petition in support of it,” Mohd Nasarudin said.
FMM Penang branch vice chairman Datuk Jimmy Ong and Mohd Nasarudin submitted their respective petitions to Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow outside the gates of the state legislative assembly today.
Ong said he started collecting signatures for the petition two days ago as the project could ease traffic for factory workers.
Chow accepted both petitions from the groups and assured them that the state government will consider all views on the PTMP and the accompanying PIL1 and LRT.
“The state government is open to all feedback, concerns, support for or opposition against PTMP and PIL1,” he said.
He said the project is still in proposal stage and works for PIL1 have not started so there is still time to take into consideration all views on the project.
