Chow hopes LRT project is implemented within five years
Penang Chief Minister, Chow Kon Yeow is targeting for the Light Rail Transit (LRT) project under Penang Transport Master Plan to begin during his tenure.
Chow said the LRT project would take a longer time to complete in Penang but he hoped to see the project commence within five years.
“The LRT project will take between six to eight years, so if we could start in two to three years, we would be moving ahead slightly,” he told Bernama in an interview recently.
He added that in the past three years, the state government was concentrating on efforts to conduct studies on the LRT project to fulfil the conditions of the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) or the Town and Country Planning Department (JPBD).
After the 14th General Election (GE14) last month, Chow was appointed as chief minister to replace Lim Guan Eng who was appointed Finance Minister in Tun Dr Mahathir’s cabinet.
In the previous term, Chow held the State Local Government, Traffic Management and Flood Mitigation Committee chairman and he is currently the State Land Matters and Land Development, Information and Transportation Committee chairman.
Chow who is also Tanjong MP said if the approval for LRT is acquired in two to three years, maybe construction will start within this term.
“If we could begin construction, it will be another six to eight years before we will get a new modern public transport in Penang,” he said.
Before this, Chow expressed the hope that mega projects in the state would be expedited if the Penang state government was aligned with the federal government.
Among the state’s mega projects are the undersea tunnel encompassing the construction of three main highways, Penang South Reclamation (PSR) project, Penang Sky Cab and LRT which are estimated to cost RM46 billion in total.
Nonetheless, the Padang Kota assemblyman said there were constraints on the proposal by several non-governmental organisations for a tram system to overcome the high cost of building the LRT.
He said to date, there were quarters who questioned the suitability of the LRT project in Penang but at the same time, not all roads in Penang were built according to the standard for a tram system.
“If tram is built on the existing roads, the capacity of roads will be reduced less while the LRT or MRT could be build on overhead or underground tracks,” he said.
Source: Bernama
Why need so long 2 to 3 years just to get approval? This project is long overdue, all the feasibility studies should have been completed by now, please begin construction soon
already change gov still needs to take several year to start?
Be patient, wait
@Macha
I believe the present administration needs to finish the many backlogs delayed by the previous administration first. Still, the “China connection” is needed in order to see rapid work construction.
Why no station at Farlim? ( The most population in Air Itam ). Why no station at General Hospital? ( How many people go to stadium everyday but many go to GH everyday )
@Siew Lai Lai
It has to be done stage by stage lar, how to do everything all at once? Need money one ah, you think so easy meh? You think like you siew lai lai easy life ah? Just open your cheebye only then got money already.
Businesses and properties near the stops will hit jackpot
Personally, it is not my preference to have the LRT too near to my place as the track of LRT will be making so much of noise, it may affect the day in and out in term of noise pollution, however, Ideally, the distance between place of stay to LRT has to be a 1km away or as long as 10 minutes of walk distance, that is fine. always find a balance between convenience and peaceful life unless you don’t mind with noise. please think twice. Thanks
My 2cents.
wei…..actually according to PMTP, the whole rail network is not entirely LRT, some parts are actually monorail, like Tg. Tokong to Komtar. It’s cheap and fast to build monorail actually, why not start with that first? It will be a good start for the state gov to evaluate public response.
Good idea build monorail first…
Penang needs LRT and also more modern roads.
Five years, the triBe has spoken
Build more bicycle lane!!! No need wait lrt just go cycling better xD
Trishaws better, can make money and keep heritage!!
@Trishaw
I agree with you absolutely. Rightly, Penang ferry service should also use Junks instead of mulling Catamaran or hydrofoil lah.
Cannot, if use junks, everyone will be running late, can’t get anywhere fast enough or on time, stick to catamaran.
@observer