As the Penang State reserves are only RM1.45 billion right now, how much will the DAP Penang Government borrow from China or other banks to pay for these two expensive projects?
Michael Lee Beng Seng
Based on YB Chow Kon Yeow’s explanation yesterday, the Penang LRT project cost is now RM8.4 billion for 30km.
In May of last year, it was reported that the cost of the LRT project was RM7 billion. Therefore, this sudden RM1.4 billion in price within a year is a surprise.
As the Penang LRT project is fully elevated, the price tag of RM280mil per km, it seems to be more expensive on a cost per km basis when compared to the LRT3 project in the Klang Valley.
The LRT3 is 37km long but also includes an costly 2km underground tunnel section and a underground station. Despite this, the cost of the LRT3 is RM9 billion or about RM243mil per km.
More worrying is that in his statement dated 19th June 2017, YB Chow said that the Penang government had already approved a total of RM17 billion out of the RM46 billion Penang Transport Masterplan project.
YB Chow explained that this RM17 billion is for the LRT project and the Pan Island Link 1 (PIL1) road project – which suggest the cost the PIL1 project is RM8.6 billion.
As the PIL1 road project is just 19.5km in length.this means the cost per km is a shockingly high RM441mil per km.
I request the Penang Government to provide proper cost breakdowns on both projects as well as explain the sudden increase in price for the LRT project.
We do not want the DAP Penang Government to be accused of building the most expensive highway in Malaysia by far as well as the most expensive LRT system.
As the Penang State reserves are only RM1.45 billion right now, how much will the DAP Penang Government borrow from China or other banks to pay for these two expensive projects?
