The proposal for a Penang International Convention Centre is already moving, but I dare say a large majority of Penangites are unaware of it.
This artist impression of the convention centre doesn’t show how close it will be to the existing Penang International Sports Arena (Pisa).
In fact, the public have been given until 8 January 2010 to submit their opinions and views – and that’s it for the consultation.
The Bayan Baru Residents Association has already registered its objection in a letter to the press. You can submit your views to the Penang Municipal Council or you can email your views to riduan@mppp.gov.my before the deadline expires.
Personally, I am against the project, which is expected to cost RM50 million (and that’s just an estimate). The money is expected to come out of the precious funds of the Council, which has budgeted a deficit of RM40 million in 2010 on the back of revenue of RM230 million (two thirds of which is raised from assessments/taxes). The Council has allocated RM30 million for the convention centre in 2010 and a further RM20 million is expected to be incurred in 2011.
Why Penang doesn’t need a convention centre like this built with public funds:
- Has there been a traffic impact study for the project?
- Parking could be nightmarish as there are inadequate parking lots. Just look what happens during the computer fair, when people park all over the place.
- The new convention centre is to be built right smack in front of Pisa. During construction, Pisa’s operations will be affected. And after construction, Pisa’s own business and utilisation will probably take a hit.
- The new convention centre is unlikely to be heavily utilised. What is the cost-benefit of the project? Where is the financial rationale?
- Why not just upgrade Pisa and be done with it.
Spending RM50 million on a convention centre would be a terrible waste of the Council’s limited funds, contributed by rate-payers. All this while, the Council has been scrimping on other essential projects. The money saved on the convention centre project could be better used for the following:
- Upgrading existing public markets and building new Council markets in places like Batu Maung and Teluk Kumbar.
- Improving pavements and disabled access around Penang.
- Upgrading and repairing old drains that are in poor condition.
- Upgrading and installing modern public toilets on the island, especially in George Town. The state of a city’s public toilets tells you a lot about the place.
- Beefing up Council enforcement units to improve cleanliness and reduce congestion. This heightened visibility would have the indirect spin-off of deterring street crime.
- Upgrading the Council’s entire computer system, which I am told is “archaic”.
- Initiating its own heritage conservation projects, now that the federal government has denied the Penang local government its rightful allocation of funds for heritage conservation (and instead channelled it via Khazanah Penang).
And that’s just a sample of things it could do with that kind of money. So apart from the actual money spent, we have to think of the above ‘opportunity costs’ – the things we could have done with the money if not for this project.
I will be e-mailing my views above to the Council (Update: Done!). You might want to do likewise, whether you or not you are in favour of the project. (I don’t think the Council has received much feedback from the public so far.)
Meanwhile, blog reader S H Tan has come up with an online petition on the convention centre here.
CAMPAIGN AGAINST PICC
The State Govt has shown an apparent attempt to be seen as transparent and accountable by asking for public feedback. Let’s hope this is not a PR prank to whitewash and say there are only a few objections from the Rakyat. To date, there are only 9 formal feedbacks to MPPP. Let us continue to get our voices be heard and insist that all valid objections and questions be fully addressed before they approve this project. The RM50mil that MPPP is going to spend is OUR money. Let us have a say in how they are going to spend OUR money. I am willing to initiate a signature campaign/petition to raise our objections/concerns. We can get the Bayan Baru and surrounding Residents Associations to help. We can get bloggers to help. Let us do this fast before they set this in concrete. Let us put Competency, Accountability and Transparency to test. Let’s get civil society and the voices of the Rakyat be heard. Let’s not just gripe and whine here.
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I salute you more if you are also asking same accountability from BN. Did you do that?
A total of RM 30 billion snail train projects were awarded to cronies without open tender and public feedback. And still people forgive and keep quiet against BN for stealing our billions of money.
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I think we should be more proactive rather than reactive to the above project. After all, it is only the cost of one missing jet engines! Less than one per cent of the stimulus packages announced by the Federal Government to spur the economy but how has it stimulated the economy?
But, whatever, being a responsible citizen, which I am sure you are, and you are correct to voice your opposition and objections in the true meaning of democracy, objectivity in objecting has got also got to be put in place. A good example of bad objections is the one against the teaching of Science and Maths in English, what was the real reason and objectives? The reason is that those young ones cannot follow the syllabus in English, this shows an unwillingness to learn and here again the objective is flawed, because to satisfy such objection means we will be pushed further down the rankings for FDIs to come in. And expectedly the Education Minister, in a piece meal decision to win popularity, upheld the demands of the protesters and ignoring the wishes of the silent majority! I am sure you are against the teaching of Science and Maths in BM, but as it is we have to keep quiet because we were not vocal enough in our demands. You see, objections are good, as it makes the party concerned more accountable and transparent, but objections for the wrong cause can result in the Rakyat losing out.
It is good that the political tsunami of 308 had brought along, greater awareness of the Rakyat about their rights, which will make the authorities concerned more clean, accountable and transparent! Had the awakening been earlier, the Rakyat would have prevented the Federal Government from going on with the PKFZ which had turned into a 12.5 billion scandal. The Federal Government had indeed bled the country’s coffer dry of our monies. They implement projects, the bigger the better, so that they will be further enriched, that is the primary objective, without really caring for the Rakyat!
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Let me share my thoughts.
I don’t think anyone disputing the MICE industry is lucrative and profitable or the fact that Penang needs new avenues and attractions in order to diversify its flagging economy.
The main issue is whether we need to shovel Rm50M down the drain to build a new convention center. I think a more sesnsible and responsible government would have done a cost-benefit analysis rather than try to lecture down to the rakyat. An accountable leader would have facts and data to support such plan instead of wishful thinking. Has LGE asked Penang EPU to carry out a study ? Or any study has been done at all ?
I am with Anil that it is far better and more sensible to renovate and upgrade PISA then build yet another white elephant. If PISA able to attract business and its cpacity could no longer handle the volume then we can discuss about a new convention center.
Personally I am not convinced that Penang has what it takes to be a major venue for MICE and it better off to focus on its core strength of heritage, food and culture. There is no way that in terms of infrastructure, entertaintment, shopping and other usual MICE attractions Penang can hold a candle to KL or Singapore. It is a fight that doomed even before it starts, especially so that Singapore is going big on MICE with the impending open of its Integrated Resorts (ie, casinos).
There is a very disturbing pattern emerging in the Cheap Minister’s actions post 0308. All his actions are calculated to bring “development” to Penang in order be chummy with the Big Business. This also provides a fantastic opportunity for DAP cronies also to get a bite at the cherry.
DAP – Development Above People
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Penang needs the developments necessary to enhance its position as a leading trade centre, which it once enjoyed. With the lack of serious activity to promote trade in the past two decades, Penang had transformed from being a busy commercial centre to a sleepy hollow.
I still remembered vividly how active Penang was previously, lots of tourists, a favourite spot for Thais, Indonesians, Burmese, Singaporeans and famed for its beautiful beaches that attracted many from near and far. Commercial activities were so rife and everyone was doing a roaring business, but today, after twenty years of mismanagement, what is left of Penang is a clueless economy, without realizing where and how it should move forward. What the current Government is doing is the first small step towards slowly reviving Penang’s fortune, but whether the convention centre should be built besides PISA is debatable. It is normal for those in the opposition to voice their discontentments, as it is the role of the opposition to oppose even without clear cut reasons why they are opposing, unlike Anil who had stated very clearly his concerns and reasons why he is against the development of the said centre. It makes a lot of difference between one who opposes objectively and those who oppose for the sake of opposing!
It is incorrect and pretty assuming that the efforts of the Government to bring developments to Penang as one that will enrich their cronies. I believe this is the first project the Government will be embarking on, and as usual it is meeting with objections, it is just normal as we are living in a democracy. I agree with you that all previous projects carried out by the previous Governments would definitely enrich its cronies, but this is the first DAP project to build a structure, so we cannot just lump them together with the previous Government, which we all know is corrupt to the core.
DAP – Democracy As Preached
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O
I think you are trapped in nonstaglia and wishful thinking.
There is just no comparison between KL, Singapore and Penang and there will never be. KL and Singapore are commercial and financial centers with vastly better infrastructure. Penang on the other hand is an industrial hub and values its heritage, culture and history.
Penang could have been an entertaintment center decades ago but precisely because they lost this business and entertaintment sectors that the Penang leaders had decided to turn the state into an industrial hub of global proportion and world class standard.
Penang needs to re-evaluate its economic model but it has to chose the paths that it has comparative advantage (using economic theory here). In terms of MICE, Penang has very little to offer since the MICE crowds are business people with different tastes compared to the usual tourists who are attracted to our unique culture, heritage and the food.
Penang has to choose its fights and not ones that it has zero chance of winning.
To be honest, there are plenty of low hanging fruits that LGE can pick on for the next economic models but he has squandered many of these opportunities. Still, there are some brights spots where Penang can excel, but I am pretty sure talking big by LGE isn’t one of them.
CAT – Condos Apartments and Townhouses
DAP – Development Above People
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I think you should stand against LGE in the next GE. You sounded so much a sour grape. And the fact is your chances of unseating LGE is slim and none.
Which part of the body are you speaking from? Penang used to be “the place” in Malaysia, long before KL was developed at very frantic pace. From commercial to entertainment, we make our way to Penang. Sometimes, please for goodness sake, please comment with facts rather than to spin. Penang will never move anywhere with people like you. Whenever the PR Government wants to start anything, people from the previous corrupt regime starts their spins. If the former regime were that good, the people would not have thrown it out. Mind you, they were not only thrown out, they were routed, mauled and dumped for good. Such anger in Penang by the voters were unprecedented in the history of Penang. A total whitewash in the Penang island, and now people like you trying to impose your views again? Just go and ask the voters. One thing is for certain, the mood of the voters in Penang is very much PR and there is just no way you can even steal a seat from the Chinese majority area. For people like you, please contest a seat in the mainland, by begging your political master the rotten to the core UMNO to allow you to contest. Your former leader tried to escape to the mainland, even so he was so badly routed and today he is just a backdoor KPI minister, I think you will do him good to ask him to retire his days in Penang rather than making a fool of himself in KL. So pathetic, i.e Gerakan and its people.
The State is with PR and PR will do everything possible within their power to ensure the betterment of the states and livelihoods of its people which had been seriously and badly neglected for the past 20 years! Penang a commercial hub had been reduced to what it is today without directions and plans after twenty years of neglect! It is absolutely wrong to have KTK as the CM, when a person can only take half a loaf of bread, why feed him one? If you want your say, wait for the next GE, and the next one and next one.
LGE by all accounts is definitely better than what the previous leaders tried to offer.
CAT – Competent, Accountable and Transparent (striving to build condos, apartments and townhouses at affordable price for all Penangnites, based on the above principles)
DAP – Democracy As Preached
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O
Why are you cannot take constructive criticisms and resort to personal and unjustified attacks on the critics of the Cheap Minister ? Is this the way of DAP ? Has DAP transformed into PAP ?
It is obvious from you writing that you are a strong, ultra-DAP supporter. In fact your antogonistic language reminds me of a certain advisor to the Cheap Minister.
Why are you talking about people of the previous regime when we are discussing PICC ? Why can’t you justify the project and rebut the points that I and other commentators raised ?
Why can’t you ask the Cheap Minister to have an open forum on this issue to get our feedback ?
DAP – Development Above People
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BN – Bolts and Nuts, Screwing the Rakyat left right and centre!
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K,
I “am not cannot take constructive criticisms of critics of the Chief Minister”. If DAP has indeed transformed to the PAP, congratulations Malaysians. At least we can see the lights at the end of the tunnel, rather than groping in the dark for the past decades, not knowing when the end will be under Bolts and Nuts, being screwed, screwed and screwed.
Your desire to use “big” words without checking the proper usage and right wordings,denotes that you are one of a kind who wants to show off that you are knowledgeable, fearing that people will not know you are one, just another half past six one, that is.
I had put in my point without pointing and naming people or being so and so just because he or she is not agreeable to my views! We are living in a democracy, truly practised and preached, therefore everyone has a right of opinions.
I am just an ordinary citizen and who am I to ask the Chief Minister to have an open forum? It is arrogant people like you who shoots your mouth without thinking, that is why Malaysia had fallen behind in every way!
You can send your opinions and express your disgusts, unhappiness ( you always are) and whatever grouse Anil had provided. You commented without reading? Next time, please read then comment ok, K? In the event you do not understand, please ask. Malaysians of all walks of life who visit Anil’s blog will be more than happy to enlighten you.
DAP – Democracy As Preached
BN – Bolts and Nuts, to screw, screw and continuing screwing the Rakyat!
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O…mind telling me what kind of “big words” that I used “without checking the proper usage and right wordings” ?
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I wish to differ your opinion. KL and Penang is different places. If you have visit Penang, you will know how fast the state has progress.
MINE exhibition is way out of KL. It is very unlikely to be any organization preference.
However, organization can prefer KL to Penang. If you see Hard Rock Hotel in Penang, you know Penang is not small.
Hope you don’t get offended.
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K,
Lie you said, “I don’t think anyone disputing the MICE industry is lucrative and profitable or the fact that Penang needs new avenues and attractions in order to diversify its flagging economy “`. SO IT CANNOT BE MONEY THAT GO DOWN THE DRAIN
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Yang
Your argument is just doesn’t make sense. Yes, MICE is a good revenue generator but that doesn’t mean Penang stands the chance to get a slice of this business. As I had said, please upgrade PISA first to attract the crowds and if that succeeds then we can discuss about another convention center.
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K,
You are contradicting yourself in every comment you make. To be exact, you had contradicted yourself 5 times in the last four comments.
You mentioned, “MICE is a revenue generator but it does not mean Penang stands a chance to get a slice of this business”. Why not? Kindly qualify your statement, without just generalizing it without facts and statistics.
Upgrading PISA and attracting crowds? In what way? Just by upgrading, it will attract crowds? Without proper management and events? I think it will do you a whole lot of good if you can please go and upgrade existing malls which are wanting of crowds to attract the crowd!
I am not being personal but you are just commenting like empty drums, making the most noises. We can simply have loads of such people in the kopitiams, warongs and mamak stalls throughout the country! Come on, you are educated and try to be one, without stooping so low as to be personal. You have a right to your views, but you do not have to be personal on others who comment on this site. Sickening is the sight of such Bolts and Nuts critics.
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O
I agree that none of the critics’ arguments will make sense or sound logical to hard core DAP supporters like yourself. So keep living in your dreamworld where your leaders can do no wrong and see no need to justify their actions or be accountable to the rakyat. It is scary that DAP supporters and leaders behave in such dictatorial manner after barely in power for less than 2 years.
It is not me but the Cheap Minister who has to convince the people on the feasibility since he’s the bloke who wants to splash Rm50M on a new convention center. In case you are unfamiliar, this is what is called as accountabality and transparency in governance.
I am shocked that DAP is so intolerant to even mild criticisms and so arrogant in power. These criticisms are mild compared to the kind of vicious attacks and mindless rantings that LKS and LGE churns out by bucketful on daily basic toward their political opponents.
I wouldn’t be surprised that if DAP takes over the power at Federal level, we critics must be arrested and locked up in labour camps.
Remember, people are watching your and your LGE’s every move and they will speak loud and clear when the time comes.
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Guys guys guys … let look at it fairly. In KL there are the following places for conventions and concerts:
PWTC – heavily booked
KL Convention Centre – heavily booked
Putra Stadium, Bk Jalil – heavily booked
Sunway Convention Centre – average booking
MINE Exhibition Centre – low booking
So what is this? Well, it means KL is a massive place for exhibitions, conventions and concerts. Also, those who do well are in the right place and are very well managed.
Now Penang needs to ask this:
i. does it have the actual traffic for such events;
ii. do they have a proper team to manage it.
Question 1
KL is a favoured place and we know why, it is the capital. Penang is a sleepy hollow compared with KL and that is a fact. International events, exhibitions and concerts will not choose Penang as first choice.
Question 2
Does the council have professionally trained staff? I doubt it to be honest. In KL the top spots have staff who are very good at what they do and they have a great track record.
LGE has to be REALISTIC and not OPTIMISTIC only. Does he have proper advisers for this? As it is, PISA is struggling for events. Now, we want to talk RM50M to bring in conventions?
In my opinion, its a lousy idea. Not because I dislike LGE or whatever but rather I am in the industry for such things. Penang will struggle hard.
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the issue is not whether penang needs a convention centre. it is (1)whether PICC is the business of MPPP to build and maintain. Obviously MPPP had done a bad job for PISA and now it is being asked to shoulder another monument. (2)where is the feasibility study and why is MPPP being pressured to build it in a hurry-to be completed by 2010, tender to be called in january? (3)why no competition for design and why the reliance on the same architect who built PISA? (4)why the location? does everyone know that it will be located at the front entrance obstructing PISA? (5)will any exhibitors come to a 50 million convention centre (with no hotel, auditorium and inadequate parking) in congested Penang when there are much grander and better equipped convention centres in KL, S’pore, Bangkok? (6) what will happen to PISA during and after construction?
Let the private sector or the State Govt build and run it. don’t ask MPPP to spend rate payers money in a hurry for this when all the above questions remain hanging in the air.
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Is there a comparison between PGCC and PICC being made ?
For a start, the glaring difference is G=Global and I=International.
The PGCC was very much opposed by the PR then and one of the reason is traffic congestion. How does the PICC overcome this and has there been a study conducted ?
Did the very same reasons why the PR rejected the PGCC has not turn 180 degrees that the PICC is very much needed now ?
Is there some “external pressure” that is mounting that requires the PICC to be built as immediate ?
Remember, it takes Taiwan 10 years to go from the top of their economic position to where it is today and still recovering due to thier poor handling of the economic investment. Can this happen to Penang too or is this the beginning ?
Can this end up being same story but under different government and ended up the same way ? Your guess is just as good as mine or even better.
Oh… There is so much dilemna and will there be a 3rd solution coming out soon ? (Forget about PCM as they are BN friendly)
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Anil,since the MICE is a council project,the public must have a say and scrutinise on the feasibility first. Why LGE wants to rush it and complete by December 2010?This is against his own motto of CAT governance.SO far no public forum has been set up from MPPP or State Government to gahter public and expert views first and deadlines have been set.
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To those who favor the building of that mini-convention center I will ask you this —
How many of you have attended world class conventions in other countries, like Japan, China and America ?
Please tell me how big the convention centers are.
The land on the whole PISA compound isn’t big. If we take away the existing structures, the available land mass is even smaller.
How to build a world class convention center with such a puny piece of land ?
No, I am not saying that we should build the LARGEST convention center in the world, but if we are to build one, BUILD ONE THAT IS LARGE ENOUGH !
The 50 Mn ringgit mini-convention center that Lim Guan Eng likes so much is totally pathetic.
On one hand it isn’t large enough for true world-class events, meaning, people won’t come to Penang to have their conventions just because our our puny little mini-convention center.
On the other hand, the 50 Mn ringgit could be used for much better purposes.
If LGE is really interested in building a convention center, I would suggest that he build something that makes sense.
FYI, there are still land available in Penang for that — land in Batu Kawan or Kepala Batas or Balik Pulau, or even the existing lumba kuda place at Batu Gantung.
And one more thing — if you are to argue FOR the building of this convention center, please do not use the 20 Billion federal fund as an excuse.
Two wrongs do not make a right.
The federal government’s wasting of 20 Billion ringgit doesn’t give Lim Guan Eng or any other person any right to waste ANOTHER 50 Million ringgit to build a white elephant.
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That LGE is forging ahead without a care for the rakyat’s views is an indication that how far he and DAP have moved on since their pre-GE days. DAP used to be the party for the man-in-the-street with no taste for grandiosity or mega projects. Their opposition to mega projects such as PORR, PGCC and many others are the testament for their principled stance rooted on social democracy.
However, putting them on power has unleashed their inner demons and turned them into a third-rate and low cost version of the tyrannical and paternistic PAP.
LGE himself has been the grand Transformer himself, from the defender of the weak and margainalised to the dictatorial and power-crazed Cheap Minister.
As many have pointed out the whole PICC project reeks of poor planning and smells of (alleged) cronyism.
I wonder how a government that can’t even keep its celebrated beaches clean can develop and execute a strategic plan to be a key MICE hub ahead of other locations with much more to offer in terms of infrastructure, attractions, marketing power, connectivity, branding,human resources,etc.
I strongly propose LGE focus his attending on the dirty beaches, improving MPPP/MPSP efficiency, local government elections, heritage protection, FDI,etc.
Many Penangites are getting more and more concerned with the sad decline of Penang under the Cheap Minister and his equally pathetic and clueless exco.
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Unlike Khalid Ibrahim, Lim Guan Eng has never thought of how he should serve the people.
Unlike Khalid Ibrahim, Lim Guan Eng doesn’t have any managerial experience.
Selangor prospers under Khalid Ibrahim while Penang turns from bad to worse.
Selangor is a big state. Penang is much smaller than Selangor.
Comparatively Penang is much easier to manage than Selangor but please tell me, what has Lim Guan Eng done for Penang, so far?
We kicked out Koh Tsu Koon because we are tired of his uselessness and the (BN) corruption.
…but this PICC, especially the way Lim Guan Eng fast-track the whole thing, it does give strong impressions of something very fishy…
Prove to us that you are not just another Koh Tsu Koon, Lim Guan Eng.
Please prove to us that you are different, Lim Guan Eng.
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Saya memang setuju dengan bantahan terhadap projek ini. Mungkin ada yang berfikiran agar kami semua beri peluang kepada LGE untuk membuktikan yang beliau memang ada rancangan besar untuk PP ataupun beliau memang berkaliber untuk menjayakan PP he arah tahap baru dan lebih maju dari dulu. Tapi, pada pendapat saya PICC adalah satu projek yanag sememangnya TIDAK BOLEH dijadikan prioriti kerana alasan ia akan menarik pelabur dan pelawat ke PP adalah satu alasan yang tidak kuat sangat. Untuk menarik perhatian pelabur atau pelawat, apa yang dikehendaki adalah sebuah negeri yang stabil dari segi politik dan juga dari segi pembangunan. Membina sebuah bangunan tidak bererti kami memang ada pembangunan. Pembangunan melibatkan banyak aspek seperti, kebersihan, kemudahan sistem transpot yang sesuai, ekonomi negeri semakin meningkat, keharmonian di kalangan rakyat, infrastruktur yang digunakan dengan sepenuh penuhnya dan juga struktur komunikasi yang lancar…bukannya dengan membina sebuah bangunan yang tidak terjamin ia akan berjaya atau tidak.
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i agrees that Penang is in need of a proper convention centre but i don’t believe this is the one Penang needed right now… We have that PESTA Pulau Pinang site at Sg Nibong but i think its a rather outdated, fix that first and we’ll start talking bout a PICC then… if we cant even handle to properly manage such small scale exposition site, don’t start on a big one… learn by crawling, not jumping, we’re not kangaroos…
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