GEORGE TOWN – The Penang City Council (MBPP) has been urged to increase the number of parking spaces to accommodate tourists following the huge influx of vehicles ferrying tourists to the Esplanade’s vicinity.
The post-pandemic revival of the tourism industry in Penang has caused the island-city to be inundated with tourists and vehicles, causing severe traffic jams due to limited parking space.
During the city’s sixth ordinary council meeting today, councillor Wong Yuee Harng explained that the parking issues are a deterrent for tourists and may harm businesses set up in the Esplanade area.
“The roads from Burma Road to Batu Ferringhi and from Jalan Sultan Ahmad Syah to Weld Quay experience massive traffic jams during the school holidays.
“As the city council, we need to play a crucial role to ease the traffic jam; and though MBPP has approved the increase of parking lots by the hundreds, it is only applied at locations with new development.
“In the Unesco George Town Heritage Site, there is no increase in parking lots because we have maximised them,” he said.
There are currently 1,836 parking lots in the heritage area.
Therefore, Wong urged MBPP’s sub-department to study the identified locations where there is a possibility of building a multi-storey car park, either underground or above-ground in the Esplanade area to curb the traffic congestion.
The reason behind the traffic backlog at present, he said, is due to visitors making several loops around the area along Jalan Tun Syed Sheh Barakbah and Lebuh Light in search of parking.
This causes other vehicles who want to bypass George Town to the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu expressway to be backed up as well.
Wong suggested that the multi-storey car park be built in the vicinity of Dewan Sri Pinang (DSP) at Lebuh Duke, the lane adjacent to DSP, or on the Esplanade’s field.
During standstill traffic two weeks ago, city enforcement officers had to close off Jalan Tun Syed Sheh Barakbah to traffic, which caused local businesses around the area to suffer.
If this issue is not resolved soon, Wong opined that it will deter tourists from visiting the area in the future. – The Vibes, June 23, 2022
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