by Charles Tan

The sky in Penang seems brighter today than before the GE14? I believe in general, Penangites would welcome the announcement by the newly minted Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow. He said this in an article in TheSunDaily. “Need for Penang’s mega projects to be expedited.” Specifically, he said this in the article, “We have also received requests from Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) to discuss how best to develop the projects.” Actually, this is a very powerful sentence because it showed that the federal and the state government are now working on the same side. Usually, this meant that there is now speed in everything that’s proposed. As long as the projects are beneficial to the state and its expedited, we are definitely looking at much brighter prospects for Penang moving ahead. Yes, also the property market even if everyone must still buy carefully because the number of unsold units remain high. Here’s an earlier article.

Some of the projects being classified as state mega projects are the underwater tunnel project which includes the construction of three major highways, the Southern Penang reclamation project, Penang Sky Cab and Light Rail Transit (LRT) with an estimated total cost of RM46 billion. Chow said that the implementation of the two major highways connecting the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Highway to Air Itam and Tanjung Bungah to Teluk Bahang under the Zenith Consortium will start first since both of these major highways has received Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) approval. These mega projects are under the Penang Transport Master Plan. It will help to overcome traffic congestion in Penang and also connect the island to Seberang Perai. They are the 7.2km undersea tunnel project which will connect Persiaran Gurney to Bagan Ajam in Seberang Perai. The main highway construction comprises the 10.53km from Tanjung Bungah to Teluk Bahang, the Air Itam-Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway and the Persiaran Gurney-Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway. Full article in TheSunDaily.

For owners with homes in Penang today, you have made a great choice of buying and waiting. 🙂 Well, to those who believe the new CM of Penang, I guess it’s time that viewings start? Perhaps not yet the buying stage but the viewing stage can certainly start because property investment takes a lot of time to complete. Earlier article here. As for the actual projects that will proceed, I think it’s important that the it goes through the right stakeholders so that it is really beneficial to the state and not because it was something that was delayed and now it should be expedited. Connectivity is extremely important but the state government should also have an overall plan for the development of Penang for the next 5 years,10 years and more. I think this is the best time to sit down with the relevant stakeholders and discuss objectively. The element of ‘I am not on your side’ has been cast aside. We only have the Malaysian side today as demonstrated by majority of Malaysians. Happy investing.

>> This guest article comes courtesy of my friend, Charles, the founder of kopiandproperty.com. He is popular for sharing his thought on property investment mostly based on his own 14 years experience as well as from all the readings and conversations with property gurus in the industry. (Source)