PENANG has gazetted the boundary amendments of 10 existing towns and the creation of 25 new towns involving more than 210,000 land and 184,000 strata titles throughout the state.
Chief Minister, Chow Kon Yeow said the decision was announced through the Penang State Government Gazette No. 36 dated 4 September 2025 to realign the classification of rural land to urban to keep pace with rapid economic and social development.
"Since the town was gazetted in 1966, many areas that were still rural land have developed rapidly and experienced a significant increase in population density, including Bayan Baru, Bukit Jambul, Seberang Jaya, Bandar Perda, Bandar Cassia, Simpang Ampat, Telok Air Tawar and Bertam.
"This amendment is important to increase the efficiency of district administration and state development by 2030, besides creating a more fair and equitable land taxation system for landowners in Penang," he told a press conference at his office in Komtar today.
According to him, based on the latest gazette, two towns in the Southwest district, namely Bayan Lepas and Balik Pulau, will be expanded while four new towns will be created, namely Bayan Baru, Batu Maung, Sungai Ara and Pulau Silikon.
"In the Northeast district, three existing towns, namely Batu Ferringhi, Tanjong Bungah and George Town, will also be expanded while six new towns are proposed, namely Bukit Jambul, Puncak Penara, Perdana Mutiara, Pinang Emas, Bayu Emas and Lembah Permai.
"For the Central Seberang Perai District, the town of Bukit Mertajam is being expanded while five new towns are being created, namely Alma, Bukit Minyak, Bukit Tengah, Bandar Perda and Seberang Jaya," he explained.
Meanwhile, in the South Seberang Perai district, Kon Yeow said, two existing towns, namely Sungai Bakap and Nibong Tebal, will be expanded, while four new towns are proposed, namely Jawi, Bandar Cassia, Simpang Ampat and Bandar Tasek Mutiara.
"For the North Seberang Perai district, two towns, namely Kepala Batas and Butterworth, were expanded while six new towns were created, namely Sungai Dua, Teluk Air Tawar, Bertam, Tasek Gelugor, Pokok Sena and Ara Kuda.
"According to the Penang Town and Country Planning Department (PLANMalaysia), George Town was identified as a Regional Town while seven other areas were identified as Main Towns, namely Balik Pulau, Batu Kawan-Cassia, Bayan Baru, Bukit Mertajam, Butterworth, Kepala Batas and Nibong Tebal," he said.
According to him, after the gazettement, Penang has a total of 42 towns, of which 10 towns are cities with expanded boundaries, 25 are new towns, while seven towns remain within the boundaries.
He said, in addition, 31 other areas including Batu Ferringhi, Tanjong Bungah, Tanjung Pinang, Ayer Itam, Bayan Lepas, Tasek Gelugor, Telok Air Tawar, Seberang Jaya, Prai, Simpang Ampat, Sungai Bakap, Juru and Jawi are recognised as local towns.
"PLANMalaysia explained that the definition of 'urban' based on the 2nd National Urban Policy (DPN2) 2018-2025 is a gazetted area or a built-up area with a population density of 10,000 people or more.
"It also refers to a district administrative area with 60 percent of the population aged 15 and above involved in non-agricultural activities," he added.
Chow said that 11 criteria were set in determining the boundaries of a city, including population size, geographical factors, environmentally sensitive areas, committed development, lot boundaries, main road alignments and economic and social potential.
"At the same time, the amendment will see changes in land tax and parcel tax rates for the owners of the property rights involved starting in 2026.
"However, to ease the burden, the State Executive Council agreed to postpone the change in strata parcel tax rates until 2027, involving more than 184,000 strata property rights.
"The move ensures that all 300,000 strata parcel owners in Penang will continue to pay the existing tax rates in 2026," he said.
Previously, the Penang Government carried out a land tax review that will take effect from January 1, 2026, which will involve the classification of rural land into urban in several locations in Penang.
The mandatory application to the National Land Council was made taking into account that the last land tax review record in Penang was 20 years ago, in 1994.
As of November last year, the review process was ongoing involving 370,000 land titles in Penang by a task force at the Mining Land Office and the District and Land Office.
It is expected that this review process will continue until the end of 2025. – September 17, 2025
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