As a Penangite myself, I am absolutely concerned with the way the federal and state governments are handling the development of the Penang Outer Ring Road project. The first question in my mind concerns the tender of the project.

Secondly, who is behind Peninsular Metroworks Sdn Bhd? So far there is no such transparency involved in the tendering process or the 'award' of the concession. There are a few matters which I think Works Minister S Samy Vellu and the state government should clarify:

  • If indeed the government does give the concession holder RM150 million federal allocation for the compensation scheme, RM200 million in prime state land and the right to reclaim 200ha for a mixed development project, the 'cost' would be reduce to RM740 million as stated by the minister. However, the cost in real terms would be much less as the concessionaire would be able to profit from the development of the prime land.

  • The government should take the most conservative estimate of the real cost to the concessionaire into consideration before deciding on the amount of toll the company charges.

  • The firm(s) that is involved should be financially stable and strong. If the company has to charge RM1 for a one-way toll at four toll booths on the 17km-stretch from Penang Bridge to Bagan Jermal just to cover the 'cost' of RM740 million, the company would be making much profit from us, the consumers.

  • Proper accounting and more transparency are needed to seek the truth behind this and to make the government more accountable to the people and voters of Penang. The concessionaire would still be able to make enough profit if it charges below RM1 considering the profits from the development that have not been taken into account. Therefore I propose that an independent accounting body be set up to estimate this claim.

  • There should be continuing, not one-off, public presentation on the project to inform the public, especially those who are affected as the project progresses. Hundreds of people, most of whom support Barisan Nasional, and businesses are to be affected by the project.

    • I am very much on the side of the PORR project. Penang needs a lot of investment in infrastructure to achieve the state's goals and aims. There are sacrifices on the part of the people which are unavoidable to achieve those goals, but these should be minimised.

    Besides the PORR project, there should also be consideration for better and more efficient public transportation to reduce traffic load, pollution and to prevent such problems from worsening in the future. There should be an efficient blue print on the future development of the state. Good planning is what we need and we should emulate Singapore in making Penang a truly developed state by 2020.