Is there conflict of interest between SRS Consortium and PTMP? | The Malaysian Insight

THIS is written in response to SRS Consortium’s letter to the editor “Debunking 5 arguments against the Penang Transport Master Plan ”.

Such massive and sustained increases in migration only generally occur in response to famine, war or internal displacement of people. What we are questioning is whether it is credible to project a density of 21,636 people per sq km for the three islands, a density that is higher than Hong Kong . However, questions must be raised in this case where the cost per km for the PIL1 is 56% higher relative to more advanced transport infrastructures such as the KL-Singapore High Speed Rail, and around 7.5 times higher relative to the revised price tag of the East Coast Rail Link .

This is exactly the reason why the transport consultant Halcrow advised against the Penang Outer Ring Road , the precursor of PIL1, which the present chief minister Chow Kon Yeow vehemently objected to when he was an opposition member of parliament in 2002. To break even, annual ridership would have to reach 42 million per year, or a daily ridership of 115,000 .

While there is no doubt that most governments usually fund the initial operations of public transport systems with a small deficit, the problem for the Penang LRT is the magnitude of deficit that might not be sustainably covered by the state, given the highly inflated ridership projection. SRS’s main arguments are that it is possible to attain a 40% public transport modal share by 2030, and roads are still needed to cater to the remaining 60% private modal share.

The ignorance of these critical questions, the continued emphasis on the PIL1 highway and the piecemeal thinking clearly shows that SRS Consortium is only interested in bulldozing through the PIL1 highway and LRT at all costs, without holistically considering the unintended consequences and spill-over effects to other areas of the transport network.

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