‘It’s been 51 months, where’s the report?’

Seeking answers: Loo (in blue) and others holding up a banner during the press conference in George Town.

GEORGE TOWN: The state government has been asked to reveal the Penang undersea tunnel feasibility and detailed design studies reports, as it has been 51 months since the RM6.3bil project was awarded.

Penang Gerakan Youth acting chief Jason Loo said the project was awarded to Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (formerly known as Consortium Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd) in 2013.

The reports were supposed to be have been completed in 30 months by April 2016.

However, 21 months have passed since the April 2016 deadline.

“When we questioned the report status in June 2016, the state government said 83% of the feasibility and detailed design studies had been done and would be completed in December the same year,” he told a press conference in Gurney Drive yesterday.

Even as Loo was addressing the media, the MACC was raiding several offices involved in the project.

In October last year, Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd said it would not give priority to the proposed undersea tunnel and would focus instead on the construction of the paired roads linking the Penang Bridge to Air Itam and the coastal link between Tanjung Bungah and Teluk Bahang.

The company’s senior executive director Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli reportedly said the study incurred more cost for them and the state government would not pay them until they had completed their work as per the schedule.

Zarul added that it was more important to focus on the paired roads – the proposed 5.7km Air Itam-Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway bypass and the 10.53km-long North Coastal Paired Road from Tanjung Bungah to Teluk Bahang.