The government of Penang believes that an elevated light rail transit (LRT) system would be more beneficial to the state instead of a tram system, reported The Star.
Trams are not suitable for the state as “it would increase traffic volume on the roads which will further aggravate the congestion,” said Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.
“Therefore, we reject the Land Public Transport Commission’s (SPAD) proposal, and we will build the LRT system under the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP).”
“The matter was voiced out during a meeting held between the state government, Transport Minister Anthony Loke and SPAD recently,” he explained on Friday (21 Sept).
“We also explained to SPAD why the tram system was not suitable and they accepted our views. However, they voiced out on technical issues like the train depot area which will be located after the last station when the LRT is built later.”
As such, state authorities are currently revising the plans for the deport site, and the new plans will be submitted to SPAD in a month.
Earlier this month, Transport Minister Anthony Loke disclosed that an LRT system may not be the best answer to Penang’s traffic woes. Hence, the Transport Ministry and SPAD are looking at other public transport modes. That’s why SPAD gave an idea about using a tram system.
Despite Chow’s objection to the tram system, Putrajaya will fully support Penang’s choice mode of public transport.
Meanwhile, a rail expert revealed that the state’s proposed LRT system could suffer a RM1.2 billion loss in ticket revenue in the first 10 years of operation due to insufficient number of passengers.
Roger Teoh, a postgraduate from the Centre for Transport Studies (CTS) at Imperial College London told Free Malaysia Today that the RM8.4 billion Komtar-Bayan Lepas LRT line could require financial aid from the government.
Image sourced from Edge Property
This article was edited by the editorial team of PropertyGuru. To contact them about this or other stories email editorialteam@propertyguru.com.my
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