GEORGE TOWN, Aug 23 — The Penang government plans to put on display again for public viewing by September 1, at the earliest, the Request for Proposal (RFP) documents for the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP).
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said this was for the benefit of the many groups which had expressed concern over the project.
“I do not see any ‘halangan’ (hitch) for us to display the submission by the winning bidders for the PTMP project and, this time, we will put up the document may be in the local government offices for public viewing may be from Sept 1,” he told reporters here today.
He recalled that the RFP documents were put on public display the last time for six weeks early last year at Dewan Sri Pinang.
PTMP is a state-initiated project costing an estimated RM46 billion and features an undersea tunnel linking the island to the mainland, highways, LRT, monorail as well as extensive bus connectivity on both the island and the mainland, which depends on funding from property development on a proposed trio of man-made islands known as the Penang South Reclamation (PSR) scheme.
Chow, who is the assemblyman for Padang Kota, said that since December 2015, the Penang government had conducted 965 sessions for stakeholders on the state transport initiatives included in the PTMP.
He said that after about 33 months of engagement with a total of 16,527 people, the state would continue with the engagement sessions for the benefit of the people of Penang.
“All the engagement sessions were conducted with elected representatives and also the affected stakeholders, including the Kek Lok Si Temple trustees, Sungai Ara residents’ representatives, Residents Association of Jesselton, Teluk Kumbar Fishermen’s Unit and leisure boat operators in Teluk Kumbar,” he said.
He also said that the Penang government was waiting for notification from the Department of Environment (DOE) to conduct two public town hall sessions, one for the Pan-Island Link Phase 1 (PIL 1) and the other for the Penang South Reclamation (PSR).
He said that following the concern over these two projects, the state government had been requested to conduct the town hall sessions. — Bernama
