Residents: Why the U-turn on highway, CM?

GEORGE TOWN: Sixteen years ago, Chow Kon Yeow was on the side of residents who were against the proposed Penang Outer Ring Road (PORR).

Now, as the Chief Minister, he found himself on the opposite side defending the state’s extensive transport plan for the traffic-clogged island.

“We are confused. In 2002, when Chow was in the Opposition, he stood with us against PORR.

“Now that he is Chief Minister, we are seeing PORR reborn as PIL 1 (Pan Island Link 1),” said Tanjung Bungah Residents’ Association chair­man and Sahabat Alam Malaysia secretary Meenakshi Raman.

PIL 1, part of the extensive Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP), is a proposed 19.5km six-lane highway that will meander along the foothills of Penang Hill from Gurney Drive to Bayan Lepas where the Penang International Airport is located.

At a gathering of about 100 protesters outside the state assembly building yesterday, a flyer was distributed highlighting the similarities between PORR and PIL 1.

Under PORR, a 17km four-lane highway was supposed to link Tanjung Bungah to the Penang Bridge.

It was, however, put into cold storage in 2008 after Barisan Nasional lost Penang to the then-Opposition in the general election.

Asked about the matter in the state assembly, Chow pointed out that in 2002, his main concern about PORR was that toll would have been charged on motorists.

“I called for a review of PORR because of the toll and other reasons. I am amazed that the NGOs kept my press statement from 2002,” Chow said.

The Chief Minister also said that in July 2008, the newly voted-in state assembly passed a motion urging the Federal Government to reinstate PORR, the Penang monorail project and the expansion of Mengkuang Dam.

“The dam project was revived but the other two were eventually scrapped.”

Chow said he was not against PORR but only demanded that the project be reviewed, also because of the fact that the Halcrow Report on Urban Transport Study had found that the Penang traffic congestion would likely be back to square one in less than five years.

The protesters insisted that they were not “elitists” but simply Penangites trying to defend the charm of Penang.

“We know that some people have called us elitists or retirees.

“We are not. We are the common folk who are concerned that the Penang lifestyle will be gone if we have elevated highways going here and there,” said Meenakshi.