RM1b loan needed to facilitate simultaneous implementation of projects

GEORGE TOWN: Penang will seek a RM1 billion soft loan from the federal government to jump start the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTPM).
The loan is to facilitate the simultaneous implementation of the Pan Island Link (PIL) and the Light Rail Transit (LRT) projects that are targeted to be in service within six years.
"The project delivery partner (PDP) has proposed that we get a bridging loan from the federal government so that both components can be implemented together," Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said today.
"Otherwise, it would take a total of 12 years to implement the projects one by one," he said after a special briefing session on the PTMP for the state's MPs and assemblymen.
The PIL dual carriageway highways will link Gurney Drive, Batu Ferringhi and Air Itam to the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway, while the LRT lines will connect Bayan Lepas to George Town, and Butterworth to George Town.
The PTMP is expected to offer spillover economic benefits to the business community, with some 33,000 jobs expected to be created during the 50-year construction period.
Chow also said the role of South Reclamation Scheme Consortium (SRS) is to be the project facilitator and to obtain the necessary approvals from the federal agencies.
"They are not the sole contractor involved. There are still work components that fall under the open tender bidding," he said.
"SRS is about getting the approvals and helping us to be ready for construction. The work segments will be tendered out to local and national contractors over the duration of the project."
He said the state has issued a reminder to the various federal agencies on the urgency of finalising the master plan, that was announced in 2015 and is to be funded through reclamation works to create three sites of 809ha, 526ha and 324ha for industrial, housing and commercial purposes.
Meanwhile, SRS Consortium project director Eric Szeto Wai Loong said fishermen along the southern coastline would be hired and trained by SRS to help the authorities enforce environmental guidelines when the reclamation process commences.
He said the fishermen would be the "eyes and ears" in enforcing stringent guidelines to ensure the procedures to enlarge the land mass via sand deposits are done within the scope of the approval guidelines and do not drastically affect the environment.
"Fishermen know best about the sea and fishing spots. They will work with us and the authorities in enforcing the guidelines and to prevent wrongful activities from transpiring," Szeto added.