GEORGE TOWN, Dec 19 — The Penang state government is spending more money on building roads than public transportation, a city councillor claimed today.

Penang Island City Councillor Dr Lim Mah Hui said the state is allocating about RM16 billion to build the Pan Island Link 1, the undersea tunnel and three major highways on the island compared to only RM6 billion for the Komtar-Bayan Lepas LRT project.

"After all the money is spent on road building, there may not be much, if any, left for public transport,” he said in a statement.

He demanded to know why the state is spending so much money on road building compared to public transportation in the first phase of the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP).

Lim said there are many more questions raised publicly and also in the Penang Transport Council which he is a member of.

"They have not been satisfactorily answered,” he said.

He agreed with former DAP member, Roger Teoh, who has been openly criticising the state’s proposed PTMP, that "something is not right”.

"We have not seen the change that voters expected with a new government that preaches a CAT policy but has been acting otherwise on the PTMP,” he said.

He stressed that the state need to fully disclose the studies and due diligence done for the PTMP so that the public can fully scrutinise the project.