GEORGE TOWN: Penang is in its final stage of applying for city status for George Town, said state Local Government, Traffic Management and Flood Mitigation Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow.

“The state secretariat is presently in its final discussion with Chief Secretary Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa.

“We were supposed to have a meeting last month but it was postponed to August,” he told reporters after the Penang Municipal councillors’ swearing-in at the Town Hall in Esplanade yesterday.

Chow added that the state had complied with all the requirements in terms of paperwork, mapping and gazetting of areas.

“We have fulfilled all criteria such as the updating of the map due to the many new boundaries after the reclamation of many areas.

“We are waiting for the final endorsement from the Cabinet. Only the Yang di-Pertuan Agong can declare a city status for a town,” he said, hoping that the process could be expedited.

George Town was the first town in the country to achieve city status when Queen Elizabeth II conferred it the status in 1957 but when the George Town City Council merged with the Penang Rural District Council to become the Penang Island Municipal Council in the 1970s, it lost the city status.

Meanwhile in his speech, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said he had instructed the Penang Municipal Council to install at least a street lamp a day and to complete the installation of 70 extra CCTVs by end of the year ahead of its schedule completion time in next year.

“We are hoping to increase the state voluntary patrol unit members from 7,000 to 10,000,” he said, adding that the most effective way to combat crime was when the community took care of their own areas.

Source: StarProperty.my