[sustran] ALIRAN on Penang proposals

[Paul Barter]

I thought the discussion list may be interested in the following two press
releases from the Penang-based social reform organisation, ALIRAN.   They
are from ALIRAN's website: http://www.malaysia.net/aliran


Media Statement

THIRD PENANG LINK: ANOTHER MEGA PROJECT?

Aliran is alarmed that the Penang state government is likely to embark on a
mega project, a third link between Penang island and the mainland. The 7.6
km link, in the form of a bridge-cum-tunnel, is one of six options proposed
in a Penang Urban Transport Study. The study was carried out by British
consultant Halcrow Fox at a cost of RM1.6 million.

We fail to understand why the Penang government should be considering a
mega project at a time of great economic uncertainty. Indeed, mega projects
are largely to blame for the economic and environmental mess we now find
ourselves in.

We accept that the Penang Bridge has now reached saturation point with the
expansion of the industrial zones on both sides of the bridge and the
connection to the North-South Expressway. But one of the main reasons for
the huge volume of traffic on the bridge is the drastic scaling down of the
ferry service linking George Town and Butterworth.

Why has the government allowed the ferry service to operate at half the
capacity it was running at in the early 1980s? Double-decker vehicular
ferries were converted to vehicular-cum-passenger ferries in the late
1980s. Where there were two ferry terminals operating side-by-side with a
total of four berths in the early 1980s, today there is only one terminal
with two berths. One of the two terminals was closed down after a tragic
accident, never to be re-opened or reconstructed. The number of ferries in
operation has been halved.

All this has contributed to commuters preferring to use the bridge rather
than wasting time in long queues at the ferry terminals.  Could it be that
the ferry services were scaled down to encourage greater use of the bridge
so that the bridge operators could recover their investment outlay more
quickly?

Tourists and island residents alike have complained about the worsening
traffic congestion on the island.  The authorities are trying to solve the
congestion on the bridge by building a third link without giving a serious
thought as to how the narrow streets of Penang can cope with the increased
heavy traffic.  The last thing Penang needs now is a  third link that will
only encourage more vehicles to flow into the island and worsen the traffic
jams.

Aliran instead urges the Penang government to
· immediately reconstruct and re-open the damaged ferry terminal,
· increase the number, size, speed, and frequency of ferries operating
between the island and the mainland, and
· construct more ferry terminals, as and when necessary, on different parts
of the island and the mainland.

Anil Netto
Exco member
5 May 1998
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Media Statement

WHAT ABOUT IMPROVING THE FERRY SERVICE?

Aliran regrets that Penang Chief Minister Dr Koh Tsu Koon seems to have
ignored the proposal to drastically improve the existing ferry service in
his eagerness to push for an expensive bridge-cum-tunnel project.

Increasing the size, frequency, speed and number of ferries will
immediately relieve congestion on the Penang Bridge.   The state government
should also rebuild the damaged ferry terminal on the mainland and
re-introduce the double-decker vehicular ferries.

If the state government feels that a third link - from Pulau Tikus on the
island to Bagan Ajam on the mainland - is necessary, then it should build
additional ferry terminals at these locations.  This would be a far quicker
- and more affordable - alternative to the proposed bridge-cum-tunnel.

But then, there may be other reasons for the bridge-cum-tunnel project.
Who are the "lucky" contractors and toll collectors going to be?  They
stand to make a windfall in toll-collection.

Already, the "lucky" toll collector at the Penang Bridge has wriggled its
way out of its promise to build extra lanes on the bridge, thus saving
itself hundreds of millions of ringgit.  We still remember that the promise
to widen the bridge was crucial in the decision to transfer the Penang
Bridge from the state to a "lucky" company.  Surely, the authorities would
have known then that widening the bridge would create congestion.

Penang lacks an integrated public transport master plan.  The island can
barely cope with heavier traffic. The state government's emphasis now
should be improving public transport throughout the state - and not on
making it easier for people to drive into the island and choke its already
congested streets.  We appeal to Koh to be more far-sighted and not just
think of profits for the bridge-cum-tunnel operator/developer.  Obviously,
we have still not learnt our lesson from the fiasco over mega projects.

Anil Netto
Exco Member
9 May 1998