Ever since the General Elections in March and the Penang state government taken over by the Pakatan Rakyat, there have too much being said in public over the Federal Government-Penang Government cooperation. The implementation of the NCER remains a bone of contention as they continue to have differences in opinions on the projects. I suppose these two news items in the NewStraitsTimes today will be accepted with some satisfaction by us Penangites.
The first is a Bernama report about the Penang Sentral project that’s supposed to come up in Butterworth. Ever since the old PPC Complex caught fire about at least a decade ago, buses have been forced to use a makeshift terminal beneath the flyovers at the Penang Port Commission. It’s about time a proper building is erected so that passengers do not have to brave the rain or the hot sun.
The Penang Sentral project will continue and the federal government will ensure that it is completed on schedule, Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said today.
He described it as a federal government project that is due to be completed in 2010 and stressed: “Penang Sentral is not included in any review of projects and its construction will go on as scheduled.” He was speaking to reporters after chairing a meeting of the State Action Council at the Federal Building here.
The RM2 billion project is being undertaken by Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB) and Pelaburan Hartanah Bumiputera Bhd and is modelled along the lines of Kuala Lumpur Sentral to be a commercial centre as well as a combined terminal for rail, ferry and bus services.
It is part of efforts to establish Penang as the hub of the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) and sprawls over 12.8 ha.
“The Penang Sentral project is receiving good cooperation from the state government, especially in resolving several minor issues,” he added.
Nor Mohamed said the Council’s meeting today also discussed other projects that need to be implemented speedily, especially those of the health and education ministries.
The second is about the second Penang Bridge that’s going to link Batu Maung and Batu Kawan. It’s mired with controversy, especially since there is a foreign third party involved that’s getting more impatient with each subsequent delay. Here is the Bernama report on the bridge’s progress:
Preliminary work on Penang’s second bridge linking Batu Maung on the island to Batu Kawan on the mainland is almost completed, said Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng today.
He said there was a lot of preliminary work like surveying, site clearing, soil investigation, designing, testing and dredging to be done before the main construction of the 26-kilometre bridge could take off.
“Most of the preliminary work is near completion. The only one that is not actually completed is the dredging work which is now 34 per cent completed,” he told a news conference here today.
He said the state government hoped that the main construction could take off as soon as possible.
“We hope that the federal government can speed up because investors are also very interested to know about the pace of the construction,” he said.
Last month, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the proposed bridge, initially targeted for completion in 2011 on a RM3 billion budget, was experiencing delays due to escalating costs and problems in the design and land acquisition.