GEORGE TOWN – The Penang government has been taken to task for making the main party involved in the project delivery of the controversial RM46 billion Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) into contractors for a giant reclamation, which is part of the plan.
Penang Forum, a coalition of civil-rights and environmental non-governmental organisations, in a statement said this arrangement is seen as a conflict of interest that raises eyebrows, especially as it is done without an open tender.
It claimed that all “pretence” that the master plan is mainly about transport infrastructure has now been dropped.
“Now, many can clearly see that it is motivated by land reclamation, as the critics have pointed out from the start.”
Last month, the Penang government announced that it has entered into a joint venture with SRS Consortium, the very company that has already been appointed as the project delivery partner (PDP) for PTMP.
The joint venture is for the reclamation of Island A, planned along the southern coast of the island. The consortium will have a 70% stake, while the state will have 30%, but without financial risks.
Penang Forum representatives have, at Penang Transport Council meetings, repeatedly warned of a conflict of interest if consultants for PTMP are to become contractors in the project.
“After all, how could consultants propose a plan from which they will likely profit off as contractors?”
The coalition said the state government had in 2015 announced SRS’ selection via a “request for proposals” as consultants or PDP to implement the transport blueprint designed by the original traffic consultants – UK-based Halcrow.
“Instead, SRS came up with a bloated 20-volume proposal that bumped up Halcrow’s estimate for the infrastructure cost from RM27 billion to RM46 billion under the its proposal.”
It added that the proposal departed from the Halcrow blueprint by introducing expensive, regressive and unsustainable transport infrastructure, such as mega-highways, elevated light rail transits on unsightly pillars, and outdated monorail systems.
Many analysts back then believed that the “bloated” cost was to justify 1,821ha acres of massive land reclamation, which SRS is also proposing, with the blessing of the state, it added.
“The plan clearly does not promote sustainable mobility for the entire state.
“A big part of the problem is that the three partners in the consortium – contractor Gamuda Bhd and two Penang-based property developers – have little experience in drawing up and implementing a sustainable mobility plan.”
Environmental disaster and financial model flop
Penang Forum said the original financial model for PTMP, too, has failed.
“Under SRS’ proposal, Islands A and B – totalling 1,497ha – were supposed to finance Phase 1 of PTMP (i.e. the elevated light rail transit from Komtar to Penang airport) and the Pan Island Link (PIL).
“Work on these projects was supposed to have started in 2017 and completed by 2022.
“But now, the piecemeal reclamation of Island A will not be enough to pay for that Phase 1 – not that the regressive mega-projects are the solution for traffic congestion in Penang.”
The forum said the piecemeal reclamation will finance, for the next several years, only a 2.4km stretch of the 19.5km Phase 1 PIL in Bayan Baru and 5.3km highway overpass (Phase 2A) linking Penang to Island A.
“Building more roads and highways is hardly a progressive idea when the world is desperately trying to reduce carbon emissions to stave off climate change.
“How will this provide sustainable mobility for the entire state in the near future?”
It said the reclamation of Island A should not be allowed, given that it will destroy major fishing waters, which are vital for food security in the state, adding that a revised environmental impact assessment was submitted in January, presumably to reflect the piecemeal reclamation.
“This should be made public, given the controversial reclamation and environmental sensitivities. The idea that we need this reclaimed land to drive the economy of the state is misguided.”
It claimed that the public has been let down by the greed of the project’s proponents.
“If we had stuck to the original Halcrow transport blueprint, we could have made great strides in introducing bus rapid transits and modern trams, or even trackless trams, by now, maybe even expanded water-based transport.” – The Vibes, April 1, 2021
