16 November 2011 | last updated at 08:59am

Reclamation works majorthreat to Penang

By Sharanjit Singh | 0 comments

"The most sensible option in promoting continued and sustained growth for Penang would be for the car adapting to the city as in the case of Singapore rather than the city adapting to the car as in the case of Bangkok."

Veteran politician Lim Kit Siang made the statement when talking about long-term solutions for Penang's traffic issues back in 2002.

He quoted the excerpt from the Halcrow Penang Urban Transport Study which was commissioned by the state government as a comprehensive review of transportation policy in the state.

Kit Siang had then condemned the controversial Penang Outer Ring Road (PORR) project based on the Halcrow report and also chided the authorities for trying to impose toll on the road.

A few years earlier, Kit Siang who was then Tanjung member of parliament, had a field day, blasting the state government after an exclusive 36-storey condominium in the centre of Gurney Drive, known as 'Silverton', was approved by the Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP).

Kit Siang made a lot of noise saying that the beach front of Gurney Drive would be destroyed because of the project.

He said residents at the back of Gurney Drive would be deprived of ventilation, air, sea breeze and scenery with the locking up of the frontage and called on the MPPP to preserve the area instead of turning it into another concrete jungle like Hong Kong.

Fast forward to Nov 2011, he must surely be cringing after reading reports of what his son, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, has planned for Penang.

Guan Eng does not seem to have any reservations in allowing developers from proposing to implement toll payments on the roads and tunnel he has planned for the state.

Guang Eng, who is also DAP secretary-general, recently triggered shockwaves when he announced plans to construct three major roads and a tunnel project, supposedly to reduce traffic congestion on the island.

Under the plan, the state government will pay developers with prime land around Gurney Drive to construct the three bypass highways and a sea tunnel connecting Gurney Drive to the northern side of Butterworth, costing a total of RM8 billion.

The projects have been touted as the biggest infrastructure exercise undertaken by Guan Eng's administration to date and he has gone on record to state that the "competitive land swap" payment will be a win-win situation for both the state government and the developers.

"The government does not have to pay money and the developer gets prime land that will triple in value after the projects are carried out. This is smart economics," he was quoted as saying.

It may be smart economics for Lim but the projects, which are expected to take off by 2015, have raised much concern as to the future of Penang, considering the ferocity with which developers are being allowed to reclaim the sea front on all corners of the island.

"At the rate the state government is granting reclamation rights, it looks like the whole of Penang is up for sale.

"By the time they are done, the sea between the island and mainland will have been completely reclaimed," a longtime resident, Sally Wong, said.

Penang-based non-governmental organisations have called on Guan Eng to wait for the state transportation master plan to be completed before proceeding with the projects.

It is only prudent for the state to heed the call as the master plan, which has been commissioned to the tune of RM3.2 million, will be ready by March next year.

It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that traffic problems in Penang would remain unresolved unless a holistic approach or an integrated transport master plan is put in place.

Reports have indicated that there were over 1.5 million vehicles in the road in 2005 compared with a population of 1.4 million and this jumped to 1.75 million vehicles in just four years.

Socio-Economic and Environmental Research Institute's Datuk Dr Leong Yueh Kwang said the state needed a comprehensive and integrated land reclamation and land use policy.

Leong, a former USM lecturer who has researched on land reclamation, said land reclamation should be done in the interest of the public, not for profit-making.

No one can deny the fact that Penang definitely needs an urgent upgrade of its traffic system as the roads are already choked trying to cope with an ever increasing number of motorists, especially during long weekends and public holidays.