The two key components of the Penang Transport Master Plan are back on track. These are PIL 1, i.e. phase 1 of the Pan Island Link, and the LRT .
Chow acknowledged then that there would be a cash flow problem and the state was likely to proceed with the LRT first and, upon its completion, PIL 1.That moment of lucidity did not last long, as both have been proclaimed this week as good for launching together next year. Based on that, it is quite safe to say that the cost of the whole PTMP will balloon way past RM50 billion.
Why do we worry? Our federal government can always bail us out, right? Wrong! While our country’s RM1 trillion debt is being reduced bit by bit, what is obvious is that Penang will be on its own. We will sit up in rapt attention only when the price of seafood triples or quadruples in four years’ time.