Chow said the “Better, Cheaper, Faster” plan mooted by the forum had a string of weaknesses, chief among them being “who is going to pay for it?”.
He said sharing roads with cars and trams was not possible as most roads in Penang were too narrow.
Chow said in the long run, there would be more traffic, as lanes would have to be reduced.
At a press conference with Chow today, Penang Transport Master Plan project delivery partner SRS consortium’s director Szeto Wai Loong also laid out the disadvantages of building a tram, saying it would cost more than building a LRT line.
Drawing comparisons to the building of a Scottish tramline fraught with problems, he said Penang too, might face the same issues in the long run. He said the Edinburgh tramline was not completed due to a funding crisis.
Meanwhile, Chow said the Penang Transport Master Plan had been well thought out, with a funding plan via the reclamation of three islands south of Penang.
He said the reclaimed land would be owned by the State Government, and the land would be auctioned off to the highest bidder. The funds would, in turn, be used to fund the RM27 billion transportation plan.
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