Trams making comeback under RM27bil Penang plan
The possibility of trams plying the streets here again is nearing reality as a consortium has won the bid to carry out the RM27bil Penang Transport Master Plan.
Trams, which were a feature in pre-Independence Penang, are among proposals under the PTMP, which includes light rail transit (LRT) lines and a 20km pan-island expressway linking Bayan Lepas and Tanjung Bungah.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng announced yesterday that SRS Consortium, a company formed by public-listed Gamuda Bhd and two local property firms, had been appointed as the project delivery partner (PDP) for PTMP, which is aimed at mitigating traffic congestion in Penang. The two Penang-based firms are Loh Phoy Yen Holdings Sdn Bhd and Ideal Property Development Sdn Bhd.
His announcement confirmed a StarBiz report yesterday, which quoted sources as saying that Gamuda had been appointed as the PDP and that it had formed a company with two local firms to implement the PTMP project.
Lim said the critical components were the LRT, trams and roads.
“The LRT is not just on the island but on the mainland as well. It must be carried out outside the heritage zone. Within the heritage zone, we have to go back to the tram service. Reviving this system will make Penang unique and romantic,” he told a press conference at his office in Komtar before handing the letter of award to SRS Consortium chief executive officer Datuk Lin Yun Ling.
Lim said the state executive council appointed SRS Consortium as the PDP on Wednesday based on its extensive expertise on mass rail transit and related public transport infrastructure as well as large-scale township development.
He said Gamuda held a 60% stake in SRS and the two locals firms, 20% each.
He said the consortium would be working closely with the state government in the next six months to ascertain the detailed execution masterplan, engineering designs, gather public feedback and obtain all state and federal approvals for each PTMP component.
Besides the LRT, tram and pan-island expressway, it had been reported that the other components were a catamaran system and a RM100mil highway interchange upgrading project.
“Hopefully, we will also be getting cable cars and water taxis,” Lim said.
He said once the approvals and planning for the various PTMP work packages were in place, the consortium would call for open tenders and invite tender submissions.
On which component of the PTMP would begin first, Lim said it would depend on which licence or permit could be secured.
He said the first PTMP project was expected to be rolled out by 2017 and all its components completed by 2030.
Lim said the consortium would employ strict safety and environment protection standards and measures to minimise the PTMP’s environmental and social impact.
“The state government emphasises that all costs and expenses incurred will be fully borne by the PDP in the event that no approvals for each PTMP component is obtained from the Federal Government,” he added.
On funding from the state government, he said the issue would only be addressed once the consortium secured all licencing approvals from the Federal Government.
“We will be working on a financial model based on a land swap. But it is still too premature to talk about this,” Lim added.
In the StarBiz report quoting sources yesterday, it was stated that the old Prangin market, popularly known as Sia Boey (Town’s End), had been designated by the state government as the site for the central LRT station.
From Sia Boey, the initial plan is to have a 17.5km LRT line running from inner George Town to Bayan Lepas. There will be two additional lines, running from Sia Boey to Tanjung Tokong via Kelawei Road, and to Paya Terubong via Datuk Keramat and Air Itam.
Source: TheStar.com.my
Looking forward to LRT and tram in Penang.
And i may be 70 years old then but will enjoy Senior Citizen fares! How about that! Make it good but keep it clean, of corruption and pollution.
better if its free for senior citizen
wow, we will look like San Francisco and Hong Kong hybrid. Good job Penang.
Yes, trying to look like others but salary-wise is far way too low from
comparison.
It sounds really nice to have all these, but honestly we cannot afford this. New home buyers will have to pay heftily to subsidize the building cost of this LRT. And after the LRT is up and running, commuters will have to pay a heavy price to use it, which would cause it to be under utilized, and subsequently the operator will run into trouble running it.
Hopefully I would still be able to onboard the new tram and let.I would be 80 by then. Haha !
@Chkhor
RM13 for a trip from Komtar to Tanjung Tokong. OK or not? That’s the minimum that the operator has to charge to break even. Anything less than that, it’s loosing money.
@kingsman
Price will increase for location near the stations. Anyone know where are the proposed stations?
RM13 for a trip from Komtar to Tanjung Tokong, it is more expensive than taking your own car’s cost.
I don’t know whether price will increase or not near the stations, but for sure, I wouldn’t want to stay near a station as it will be noisy. Unless it is underground (therefore all noise contained underground), then only staying near a station will have benefits.
@Ang
Ya lor, unless state gov subsidize lor. But how can state afford to subsidize? Most public transport in the world are subsidized by gov, including Hong Kong & Spore.
How do you get the figure of RM13? Care to elaborate?
@penang_boy
The minimal charge was derived from a cost modelling software that was produced from a PhD thesis on public transport done at a reputable university.
You have to input a whole bunch of parameters into the software to get the final number, and that includes the type of rail, number of carriages, fuel cost, capital investment, utilization, population, % peak hours, length of rail line, service frequency, etc. So we did a full factorial experiment on all the parameters with 7 equally distributed discrete values in a +/- 15% range.
RM13 was the smallest number we obtained amongst the range of results. So that means RM13 is based on best case scenario, while the worst case scenario in terms of cost is RM35.
ITS ALL bullshet,we don’t need all this in penang just be what we are now..everyone is trying to make fast money.Its already messy.. jammed up everywhere..can’t even move another project with another messy jam
Please get more low cost houses for the poor…we will not take a cent when we die,let us be generous to see the poor having their own shelter special our penang bro & sis
@kaki
Thanks for the explaination. From your reply, you sound like someone from the inside with details on parameter calculations.
I’m not in the industry but I wonder, wouldn’t operation cost be more spread out if the operator can make money from other things? For example, advertisement spaces. If you look at all the transit systems in the world, there is always a long corridor or walkway where a passenger need to move from one place to another to get into the train. Aren’t all that income generators? I’m random throwing opinions here, but let’s say a poster space rental is RM1,000 per month, and a station have 50 poster space, and there are 20 stations, that would be like RM1m extra income per month? Other than poster spaces, external parts of the trains can be used for advertisements as well, columns below the MRT line (like at Berjaya Times Square) and I’m sure there will be more advertisement space inside the train. Surely from advertisement alone the operator can make at least another RM50m or more a year? Did the RM13 charge minimum calculation takes into consideration the additional revenue the operations can use to spread cost?
I’m neutral by the way, just thinking that a 20km rail line will have at least 20 stations, which means 20 carpark zones which operators can make extra income? Also, MRT stations also bound to have kiosk or retails for rental.
My two cents thoughts