Local government, town and country planning committee chairman H’ng Mooi Lye (PH-Jawi) said splitting MBSP into a few local authorities would not be financially viable, especially for the southern and northern Seberang Perai districts.

He said resources would be wasted as MBSP has public facilities that can be shared among the three districts on the mainland.

H’ng also said such a move would require more infrastructure, staff and logistics, adding that there would not be economies of scale.

He said there was also a possibility Seberang Perai would lose its city status as breaking up the region into its constituent districts would not fulfil the criteria for a municipal area to be declared a city.

“It is undeniable that there are benefits to breaking up MBSP into a few local authorities, as the administration of an area will be more focussed, operational costs will be lowered, and locality-based problems will be reduced.

“However, these benefits still do not provide solid justification to split up MBSP,” he said in response to a question from Goh Choon Aik (PH-Bukit Tambun) on whether the state government has any such plan.

Responding to H’ng’s statement, Goh said Seberang Perai is witnessing a growth in population, which would lead to the district having more assemblymen than city councillors (24) in the near future.