Speaking to reporters in Permatang Pauh today, Loke said the federal government would use the state government’s reports on the project “as a reference” that it would “take into consideration”, Utusan Malaysia reported.

“The state government wants the first route (for the LRT project) to be from Komtar (George Town) to Bayan Lepas. We agree with that in principle, however, the implementation method and so on will be detailed later on,” he was quoted as saying.

“Our priority is to implement this project quickly,” he said.

His comments were made after Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had announced that the federal government would provide additional funds for the state government to carry out the project.

In return, the proposed Penang South Islands massive land reclamation off the southern coast would be scaled down, the prime minister said.

The reclamation project was to create three man made islands over an area of 17 square kilometres between Permatang Damar Laut and Gertak Sanggul as a means of paying for new highways and the LRT in the Penang Transport Master Plan.

Loke said the federal government would need to finalise how it will fund the project. This would need to take place before work could get under way, he said.

Commenting on the federal government’s announcement, Penang chief minister Chow Kon Yeow said the level of infrastructure development had lagged behind the state’s economic development.

“We haven’t had any big infrastructure projects for a long time, especially to deal with traffic congestion. We chose to pursue this LRT project because we have been working towards it for 10 years despite various criticisms,” he said.