Sahabat Alam Malaysia president Meenakshi Raman said such a cable car line would not be a form of public transport but merely a tourist gimmick.
“What is the necessity? This won’t be free, so what is the economic cost? Who is paying for (the study)? This has been announced without any consultation.
“Instead of wasting money on such tourist gimmicks, they should focus on establishing a better public transport system, such as water taxis and other forms of water transport to get cars off the road,” she told FMT.
Former Penang government chief transport engineer Lim Thean Heng said the plan appeared to originate from the cable car operator rather than the state administration.
“It is never a public transport thing, it is a tourist project. Traffic dispersal, parking and ecology, all these need to be considered. The Gurney Bay master plan was not planned for a cable car station,” he said.
Activist Rebecca Duckett said the project would damage a “fragile” Unesco biosphere, adding that the funicular railway on Penang Hill was sufficient to cater to visitors.
“Too many feet on the ground (in Penang Hill) cannot sustain a pristine environment,” she said.
She questioned why neighbourhoods near the Botanic Gardens should be “hijacked” for a cable car line to Gurney Bay, which she described as “not a ‘must see’ destination in itself”.
“In the end, will it be used merely to view the new developments along the reclamation zones on Gurney Drive, where locals have been irrevocably cut off from the sea by high-end developments only affordable to the wealthy?” she said.
The spur line would link to the RM367.2 million Penang Hill cable car project, now under construction between the Botanic Gardens and the hill’s summit.
The main 2.73km route from the gardens to the hill’s summit will have 50 eight-seat gondolas moving up to 1,400 people per hour in each direction, but the hill’s carrying capacity is capped at 6,463 visitors at any one time.
Planners say the line, set to open by early 2027, will ease pressure on the funicular railway and improve access to the Unesco-listed biosphere reserve.
On Wednesday, chief minister Chow Kon Yeow said a feasibility study was underway for the Gurney Bay cable car spur line which would help spread visitor flow while supporting “sustainable tourism and better planning”.
The Penang Hill cable car is being built by Hartasuma Ropeways Sdn Bhd with Austrian firm Doppelmayr, funded by a Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Bhd loan.
Hartasuma says higher post-pandemic costs and added facilities, such as a car park, food outlets and sports areas, pushed the project’s price from RM245 million to RM367.2 million.
The state government has sought to allay fears of over-tourism, saying visitor numbers will be managed to be kept within the hill’s capacity.