GEORGE TOWN, May 14 — Chow Kon Yeow will celebrate his first anniversary as Penang chief minister today but he has been a prominent figure here since Barisan Nasional (BN) first lost the state in 2008.
From Pakatan Rakyat then to Pakatan Harapan now, Chow has been ever-present in the state administration and finally took over from Lim Guan Eng last year.
Throughout, he has also been involved in the state’s frequent battles with the previous federal government over projects small and large, many of which he hopes to now have the honour of finally bringing to fruition.
Chief among these is the ambitious RM46 billion Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) that he personally spearheaded when he had still been just an exco.
“By the middle of my term, the project should start rolling out on the ground,” he said during an interview with Malay Mail.
“The completion of the project will take many years but we want it to start by then,” he said.
The PTMP is expansive and contains at least the Penang South Reclamation (PSR) that is the funding module for the project, the Pan Island Link (PIL1), light rail transit (LRT), bus rapid transit and water taxis.
With PH in charge of both Penang and Putrajaya, Chow is hopeful that federal purse strings will finally be loosened to help his state pay for items such as the LRT.
This would ideally prevent Penang from needing to turn towards private sector funding, but Chow was confident the state was resourceful enough to find ways to fund the projects even if Putrajaya does not come through.
At the very least, however, he expects his PH colleagues in the federal government to deliver the necessary approvals for the state’s LRT, PIL1 and the PSR projects to start.
This is in part to show detractors who accused Putrajaya of still neglecting Penang — which Chow denies — that the state still has the enterprising spirit from when it had to swim against the BN tide.
“We had to push for our own state initiatives and carry out our own projects previously and planned the implementation on our own but now, we are no longer marginalised, it is just that some of our plans are already in place, we are just going ahead with it,” he said.
On April 10, the PIL1 secured conditional regulatory approval for its environmental impact assessment. Slightly a week later, the PSR also received its conditional green-light.
Another project Chow is keen to pursue is the Sungai Perak Raw Water Transfer Scheme that would secure the state and north Perak’s continued supply until 2050.
The scheme, which was scheduled for completion by 2025, was part of the state’s 2014 water security master plan and discussions have been ongoing for years but without implementation by the previous federal government.
While those are projects Chow hopes to see start, one he would like to see finished inside his term is the flood mitigation works he was already supervising prior to becoming CM.
The state has suffered massive floods in recent years, including one episode that needed his predecessor to swallow his pride and plead with the previous BN government for aid, and this should mitigate the severity of such incidents.
“There are about nine high-impact flood mitigation projects that I started towards the end of last term and I hope these will be completed by next year,” he said.
Going forward, Chow is bullish on what could be achieved with the same party in power at the state and federal levels.
He said the past year has been notable for the smooth collaboration with the federal government and its agencies, a happy departure from the resistance at every step when BN had still been in power.
“In the past 10 years, it was a lot of firefighting, there were issues people demonstrated against… but this time, we have a direction and hopefully, we are left to do the work of leading the state forward,” he said.
With agencies and departments coming around, Chow also hoped the private sector will buy into his vision of the future, saying their cooperation was a crucial piece in the puzzle to unlock the state’s potential.
“If we can deliver on that, then we will be able to achieve more,” he said.
Greater collaboration with Putrajaya is not without its cost, Chow pointed out, saying he was now more involved in national councils for matters such as land, finance, water, and other infrastructure.
This meant more demands on his time, which he is already dividing between his role as CM and Tanjong MP, but he said this would at least allow him to share the state’s Vision 2030 more widely.
“We want them to have an understanding of our vision for us to realise it,” he said.
The Penang 2030 Vision is one project that is entirely Chow’s, which he introduced upon becoming CM.
He admitted that the framework is still a work-in-progress but said it was sufficient to start mobilising resources towards its pursuit.
The lawmaker is also thankful for PH’s near-complete control of the state assembly, saying this would ease approval for his long-term plan to increase liveability by enhancing the quality of life, upgrading the economy, empowering the people to strengthen civic participation and investing in the built environment.
Another feather in Chow’s cap so far is the state PH’s delivery of its election pledge for a two-term limit on the CM’s post, which the assembly passed convincingly in November with more than two-thirds support.
Chow noted that this was one instance where Penang state lawmakers clearly trumped their federal counterparts, although he conceded that the supermajority in the assembly was helpful.
“The two-term limit can be considered something big, it’s a test of political will and commitment,” Chow said.
When asked to rate his overall performance in this past year, Chow said he would have once said between 60 and 70 per cent, but now preferred to let others decide for themselves.
Chow pointed out that his stewardship of the state has been relatively smooth, but still said that the rating was only self flattery if it did not come from others.
“It is just a statement that does not really mean anything, if it is not measurable against something you have set earlier, it is a feeling only,” he explained.
