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ON Jan 27, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng unveiled his grand road infrastructure expansion plan costing RM7bil. The plan involved the following four projects:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=...70407&sec=focus
1) A 4.6km bypass linking Bandar Air Itam to Lim Chong Eu Expressway;

2) A 6.5km sea tunnel connecting Gurney Drive to Bagan Ajam (near Butterworth);

3) A 12km Tanjung Bungah to Telok Bahang paired road; and

4) A 4.2km road from Gurney Drive to Lim Chong Eu Expressway, bypassing the city centre.

The projects are in the final stages of open tender which no one seems to have noticed.

The very next day, the Lim administration unveiled another RM140mil road expansion plan for the 1.5km Jalan Bukit Minyak-Alma stretch. This is the most expensive road expansion project in Malaysia since independence.

The announcements reveal one of the most important developments in Penang politics – the widening gulf between politicians’ policy decisions and the preferences of the people towards specific issues.

They can be added to the long list of policies that failed to mirror public opinion.

The arrogance of the CM shows a continuing trend of declining responsiveness to the public’s policy preferences.

The conventional wisdom that politicians habitually respond to public opinion when making major policy decisions is proven wrong by Lim.

The sea tunnel project, in particular, is deemed a white elephant project by sustainable transit advocates.

With the second bridge, designed to cater for traffic needs until 2022, nearing completion, the tunnel is rendered unnecessary. Why do we need to spend billions of ringgit for a dead-end to Gurney Plaza?

The decision to build the tunnel was rammed through without public debate, especially when there is a genuine concern on how it will affect the Penang port as a transhipment port.

A transhipment port is one where the shipment of goods or containers is loaded onto bigger vessels for the next destination.

Thus, it requires deeper channels up to 18.5m to cater for larger vessels.

The decision to build the undersea tunnel should be based on a feasibility study that evaluates its impact on the growth of Penang port. It should not be pursued for the adrenaline rush of Lim for a political legacy.

Penangites expect the Pakatan state government to restore Penang’s free port status if Pakatan captures Putrajaya.

But the free port status will be meaningless if the Penang port is unable to assume the role of a regional transhipment hub like Singapore or Hong Kong.

Critics have pointed out that Gurney Drive and the surrounding Pulau Tikus neighbourhood are a traffic quagmire during rush hour and weekends and it’s difficult to imagine how the proposed tunnel will solve the problem.

The decision to build more roads instead of improving the public transport system also goes against the motto of Penang Transport Council: Moving the people, not cars.

It also goes against its promise of seeking a new approach in handling public transport and mobility.

The state government has promised to adopt a new vision paradigm in tackling transport, one that moves people away from our dependence on modes of private transport to a more economically and ecologically sustainable public transport system.

The Transport Council, made up of state and city council members, civil servants, university professors, professionals, stakeholders, and members of the public, appears to have allowed Lim to usurp their decision-making authority and to ignore their expertise.

They have allowed Lim to persist in pressing onward all the road construction solutions to the bewilderment of sustainable transit advocates.

Another major decision is how the construction will be financed. According to Lim, no monetary payment or funding will be given by the state, and whatever costs incurred will be recovered through concession, land swapping, toll or any other form.

Costs for the tunnel would be recouped from toll charges expected to be same as those of the Penang Bridge and second bridge, while construction of the roads would involve land swap deals.

Tunneling is a major engineering challenge. A serious risk with underwater tunnels is major water inflow due to the water pressure from the sea above under weak ground conditions.

The tunnel also has the challenge of time – being privately funded, early financial return is paramount.

We have witnessed the concessions given to highway operators in the past which literarily sold out the people and the government.

We do not expect the Penang government to travel this treacherous road again.

We don’t want the ill-thought-out schemes to be driven by corruption and serve as conduits for filching government lands. We want the state government to be transparent and to come clean on the concession and land swap deals.

The state government has dropped all pretences of competency, accountability and transparency when the concession and all the land swapping deals are shrouded in secrecy.

Lim’s unwavering decision to sail against public opinion and then to openly defend his actions is just one aspect of his one-man executive decision process.

Lim is a politician who will not try to persuade the public on the merits of his policy choices.

Rather, he distracts public opinion with the argument that the urgency to defeat BN should take precedence.

Do we need a state government in which the state legislative assembly and public opinion are effectively ignored, so that the CM can decide everything to suit his own ambitions?

This is the betrayal of the highest order. It is unacceptable and must be stopped at all costs. This is a lousy attempt to hold our desire for change to ransom.

Lim wants to use the coming election as a referendum for his policy choice.

If he wins re-election, it will be seen by many, especially those who have made their careers in politics, as a vindication of his ambitious property and construction-centric policy agenda.

ONG EU SOON
Kuala Lumpur