The Penang Forum steering committee said the failure was obvious after the state government announced that it would let a private company reclaim an artificial island, and in stages. This, it said, showed that the project had veered off course.
In a statement today, it said the Penang government should have axed the project altogether as there were clear conflicts of interests.
Penang had in 2015 planned to reclaim three islands, with the land to be sold to finance LRT and highway projects. The project was awarded to SRS Consortium. However, last week, it was announced that reclamation for part of the first island would be carried out privately by SRS, via a 70:30 joint-venture company with the state government.
In a statement, Penang Forum said the latest news was no surprise, adding that the facade that PTMP was about transport infrastructure had now come off.
“Now many can see that it is clearly motivated (only) by land reclamation,” the group said.
It said it had objected to the project being carried out by developers, as SRS comprised three developers who lacked experience in drawing up a proper transport plan which focused on moving people, not cars.
The group said that by allowing part of an island to be reclaimed privately, the state would receive funds to pay for a 2.4km stretch of the controversial 19.5km Pan Island Link highway, and a 5.3km viaduct connecting the reclaimed island to the main island.
It said more roads was not a progressive idea when the world was trying to cut carbon emissions. It reiterated that the reclamation would cause permanent damage to major fishing waters, too.
Penang Forum said that if the state followed the original transport blueprint made in consultation with civil society, dubbed the Halcrow transport plan, modern bus rapid transit systems and water transport could have been introduced.
“The Penang government should have just terminated its project delivery partner agreement with SRS instead of signing a supplemental agreement for something so different from what was originally proposed in 2015.