GEORGE TOWN: Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow has confirmed that slow progress on the Air Itam-Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway bypass road project (Package Two) stems from financial issues faced by the concessionaire.
However, he stressed that works were still ongoing and the completion deadline remained April next year.
"I hope the project can be completed according to schedule," he said after attending the launch of a patriotic original song music video by the Penang Harmony Community and Cultural Association on Monday (May 25).
Chow denied claims that the project had dragged on for 14 years, saying the contract was only awarded in 2020.
Asked whether the delay was due to factors such as Covid-19, Chow said the pandemic was long over.
"Covid has already passed. We cannot continue using the same excuse," he said.
The first extension of time (EOT), which extended the Package Two deadline to Oct 31 this year, was granted in 2023 after land acquisition processes affected key stretches of the alignment.
A second EOT was approved in the middle of last year, extending the completion date to April 12 next year.
Earlier, state executive councillor and Paya Terubong assemblyman Wong Hon Wai said in a Facebook post that works at Section 1 in Farlim were on track.
However, he said progress at the other end remained far from satisfactory.
He added that intervention from the state government was needed at this juncture.
Separately, Chow said the Penang Development Corporation (PDC) was expected to submit working papers on the Jelutong landfill rehabilitation and reclamation project to the state government next week.
He said PDC still needed time to prepare the papers when asked if the state government had discussed the project.
State local government, town and country planning committee chairman Jason H'ng Mooi Lye had earlier said the developer was seeking more time to revise and resubmit its plans and would apply to PDC, the project owner, for another EOT.
He said PDC would then present the related working papers to the state exco.
The project’s environmental impact essessment (EIA) report has been rejected by the Environment Department for the fifth time.
