IT is not late for Penang to backtrack from its proposed RM10.5 billion light rail transit (LRT) system and opt instead for a cheaper yet efficient rail system, said two members of Penang Forum, an umbrella body of civil society groups.
The retired technocrats - Lim Thean Heng, who was a public transport engineer and economist Lim Mah Hui - told a press conference that the present model is too expensive and the operator can end up bankrupt if federal subsidies are revoked.
Mah Hui said the construction cost is 10 times higher for LRT (RM360 million per km) compared to alternatives such as an autonomous rail transit (ART) or a bus rail transit (BRT) at (RM30 million per km).
"We are not against the LRT but it is for metropolitan cities rather than Penang which does not have the terrain, nor a population base. We want a system which does not incur exorbitant losses, especially when it begins operating," Mah Hui said.
Thean Heng said the data about population growth in Penang, is also misleading, citing the figures quoted by the previous project delivery partner - SRS Consortium at 2.45 million people by 2030, compared to about 1.4 million now.
The projection by the Department of Statistics is 1.92 million people by 2030.
"Who is accurate here? We are citing evidence based data here," said Thean Heng, who was among the key persons who drafted the Penang-Halcrow public transport plan, which was initially adopted by the state government in 2008 before it was upgraded to the mammoth Penang Transport Master Plan, with the LRT as its backbone.
The initial cost was RM10 billion for the overall Halcrow plan but now the LRT alone costs over RM10 billion, they said.
"It will be a financial mess no doubt as there are issues about the actual ridership," said Mah Hui, who added that many public transport systems in the world are subsidised by the city authorities and only a few are profitable.
"If one looks at Prasarana (government linked company for public transport), the figures are often in the red, causing the government to provide subsidies or grants."
"It is not that Penang Forum rejects the LRT. Civil society groups instead want a cheaper model, one which allows the operator to break even, yet offer an alternative good public transport mode," said Mah Hui.
"Why doesn't the state bite the bullet and allow for an ART or BRT model instead of an LRT."
Mah Hui said the engineering challenge is building a rail line across the 8km long Penang Channel where there are also slopes which the LRT must navigate.
Another forum member Anil Netto spoke about the possibility of increasing the fleet of ferries to cope with the traffic demand between the island and mainland.
"In the 1970s, there was no less than one dozen ferries plying our channel."
He also spoke about exploring the prospects of water taxi connectivity.
The LRT has altogether 22 boarding stations on its 28km long rail with the state administrative centre, Komtar in George Town, regarded as the main one.
The link begins from Penang Sentral in Butterworth before it crosses the channel through a rail link and connects all the way to the proposed Silicon Island with one line extending to the Penang International Airport in Bayan Lepas. - The Vibes, May 10, 2024.
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