Govt to decide on PORR after public give feedback

comments     Kevin Tan     Published     Updated

The government will make its final decision on the Penang Outer Ring Road (PORR) project after public feedback is obtained, Works Minister S Samy Vellu told the Dewan Rakyat today.

The feedback was carried out by the Statistics Department and an independent consultant that was engaged by the project concessionaire, Peninsular Metro-Works, he said.

Samy was replying to an oral question from Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (Keadilan-Permatang Pauh) who wanted to know if the government will proceed with the project and why the concessionaire was given six lots of state land and the right to reclaim land in Gurney Drive as well as toll collection.

"The feedback is currently evaluated by the consultants and the national statistics department. The government will study the findings before making the final decision," he added.

The minister said before carrying out any project, the government wants to obtain public opinion first.

According to Samy, the government has in principle agreed to build the PORR through privatisation in July 1997.

The road is needed to directly link Penang Bridge to the north of the island so that motorists plying the two points do not have to use the current route through the heart of Georgetown, which is congested with traffic, he said.

Gov't aid

The minister said in return for building and funding the project, the developer will be given the right to manage the toll collection of the road.

He added however that if all the high construction costs are borne by the developer, the toll will be expensive. In order to ensure the toll is affordable to the public, government aid is needed, he said.

Thus, the state government granted the developer the right to reclaim a total of 202ha of land by the seaside in Gurney Drive (52ha), Middlebanks (89ha) and Tanjung Bungah (61ha). All costs will be borne by the developer, Samy revealed.

To alleviate the initial financial burden of the developer, the state government also agreed to give six lots of land to the developers. However, the developer will give the state government 30ha of seaside reclamation land in return.

"Some of the revenues from the developments on the [six lots of land] and reclamation projects will partly subsidise the PORR and reduce its toll," Samy said.

A supplementary question came from Chow Kon Yeow (DAP-Tanjung) who asked if the cost of PORR, which was estimated at RM1.02 billion, would remain so following a 'decrease' in the scope of the project.

The opposition MP claimed that the road will be shortened by four kilometres, among other downsizing.

Samy claimed that he did not have details on the cost apart from the initial estimates.

While he acknowledged that several changes have been suggested to the developers, Samy said he was not aware about the scaling down of the project. However, he promised to find out more about the matter.

On another supplementary question from Wan Azizah whether there is other alternative to the PORR, Samy said, "We are still trying to find [it]."



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