So the figure has been revealed. Petronas’ group profit before taxes, royalties, dividends and export duties amounted to RM570 billion for the period from its establishment in 1974 to 31 March 2007.
If you include the figure for the period until 31 March 2008, then you are probably looking at a figure closer to RM700 billion, with the higher oil prices.
Let’s see the breakdown of that RM570 billion:
Traffic jam on the Second Penang Bridge in 2020? Toll $$$ for UEM
In July 2007, the estimated cost of the second Penang bridge was RM2.7 billion.
This is an example of urban planning without a thought to pedestrians. It is a world in which cars reign supreme and pedestrians are just above cockroaches in the “food chain”. It is a world in which pedestrians – what more people with disabilities – seem to be completely forgotten.
As you can see, I have been tinkering around with this site. Thanks to N4M for his suggestion to make the URLs search-engine friendly. I have done that, and now you can use any one of the following URLs for the feed:
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The campaign to bring back the trams to Penang is picking up momentum as more bloggers join in the action.
So far 22 bloggers have joined in the campaign. That’s brilliant! Click here to see the full list. If you are a blogger and you want to join in the campaign, just add one of the campaign icons to your blog and leave a comment here, and you will be added to the list.
From Sabah comes an interesting case. A couple from Tawau, Nerisa A Kassim @ Nerisa Abdullah and her husband Joel Leona @ Jalil Abdullah, have filed a RM3 million suit against a female relative of Nerisa’s and a former private secretary of the Sultan of Pahang for alleged deception and misrepresentation. The female relative, who is trained as an accountant, is the daughter of Nerisa’s mother’s niece; both she and Nerisa had been brought up as sisters by Nerisa’s parents in Sabah.
They allege that Nerisa was duped by Nerisa’s relative and the former secretary into signing a blank form, purportedly to buy shares for Nerisa. The couple allege that the securities trading and bank accounts that were opened in Nerisa’s name were later used by the relative and the former secretary to move large sums of money – including a cheque for RM2 million – without her knowledge.
The couple are also suing the securities firm and the bank, where the accounts were opened. Nerisa claims she only came to know about the alleged deception when she applied for a bank loan with a different bank in Sabah only to be told she had been blacklisted for the earlier share-related transactions. A judgment in default amounting to RM294,934 in favour of the securities firm in Kuantan for those suspicious transactions had been sent to an incorrect address in Tawau, which meant Nerisa might even have been declared bankrupt without her knowledge had she not been alerted by the rejection of her bank loan application.
Here is a Daily Express press report giving more background to the case (click on image to see enlarged version):
And another report from The Borneo Post (click image to enlarge):
Malaysians are bent on building more infrastructure for cars and other private vehicles at a time when many other countries are looking for alternatives to private vehicle ownership as oil prices soar.
Even in the United States, notorious for promoting private vehicle ownership, an increasing number of Americans are turning to public transport – and even bicycles. Nearer to home, New Delhi has bitten the bullet and opted for a Bus Rapid Transit, which it is now introducing with a lot of teething pains. Nobody said it would be easy, but it has got to be done if we care for our environment.
Think again. Do we really want to entrench the use of private vehicles with more highways and road bridges? Shouldn’t the new link for Penang be a rail link? The Penang state government should do the right thing, and not take the easy way out by opting for a KL-inspired solution, which is more focused on inflated construction costs and lucrative toll collections.
Trains, buses, guided buses, trams and bikes are the way of the future. Let us not go against the tide and burden future generations. Even that might not be accurate. At the rate we are going, as one blog reader cautioned me, there might not be any “future generations” left to inherit our polluted and poisoned world.
Trains, Buses and Bikes, Oh My!
Last week, Isaiah reported on the 7% increase in mass transit ridership, and also how limited that increase is. Because the Bush administration did nothing to make mass transit more convenient and accessible, many Americans who want to quit paying for high-priced oil don’t have that choice.
It’s not just mass transit. It’s bikes too.
Today, my local paper headlined “Bike Sales Rise With Gas Prices. In fact, local outlets across the country are reporting the same spike with bikes. And interest seems to be growing beyond the stereotypical hippie bike messenger. Read more
The RSS feed for this blog has been changed to:
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I am back! With hopefully more flexibility to improve the design of this blog.
For those of you who entered comments in the last couple of days, they may not appear here, but are probably lying in the “old blog” at http://anilnetto.wordpress.com
More updates soon.
Anil
Cover-up job: The rape of hill-slopes continues (Photo credit: Rhino)
Last Friday, another mud slide struck Penang on the stretch of road between Tanjong Bunga and Batu Ferringhi. It was not surprising given the sort of hill-slope development taking place. This one occurred in the vicinity of the Ivory building project. You can see from this picture the sort of hill-slope development taking place in the northern part of the island. They must be crazy if they believe those plastic sheets will stop erosion.
In the event, tractors had to be called in to clear the mud from the road. And traffic was backed up for quite a bit. Here’s what it looked like even after the mud had been cleared from the road.
Penang turning into one huge parking lot (Photo credit: Rhino)
Not much fun for all those motorists caught in the jam.
Yesterday, it rained again, and one concerned resident in Tanjung Bunga told me the sea looked a mess of angry brown – probably from the silt. If you are flying above Penang Island, you can easily notice the water off the immediate coast of Penang looking a murky brown before it blends into the stunning deep blue and green hues of the Andaman Sea further north.
It’s time for the Penang state government to assert strongly that it will defend the environment and ease traffic congestion with more sustainable solutions. It has to rein in developers and tell them in no uncertain terms that the rape of the island and its beaches and hillslopes is not on.
But I fear that politicians, being politicians, will plan only for the next five years – instead of looking for more sustainable long-term solutions.
Such short-term solutions are aimed at winning again in the next general election. This means atracting more investors (never mind what kind) and promoting “development” (with just lip service to protecting the environment) and quickly building bridges and highways and outer ring roads to ease traffic congestion on existing roads. This is what the state government is doing by supporting the second road bridge etc.
But the problem is these short-term solutions might not be in the best interests of Penang and its people in the longer term, say beyond 10 years.
I dread to think what the traffic on the island will be like with five lanes of incoming traffic pouring into the island – three lanes from the expanded Penang Bridge and another two from the proposed second bridge. As it is, Green Lane and Scotland Road are congested during peak hours. What happens when the second bridge too gets congested? We build a third bridge? And when that gets congested too, then what? Only then do we think of more sustainable solutions? How will the narrow streets of George Town ever cope until then? And considering that the oil price is now over US$130 plus per barrel and rising, how many ordinary people will be able to afford commuting on these bridges (let’s not even think of the tolls!) in say ten years?
So why not think of the sustainable solutions now – instead of deferring that to the future, when it would be too late? Shouldn’t we be laying the groundwork now to move away from private vehicle ownership? We should be shunning – not embracing – infrastructure projects that will lead to more road congestion and entrench private vehicle ownership. Instead, we need to be looking at more sustainable and cost effective public transport solutions, perhaps a cross-channel rail link integrated into a comprehensive bus, guided-bus, and street-level rail system.
It was only last week that Penang civil society groups called on the state government to come up with a transport masterplan for the whole state before plunging into irreversible mega projects that would have long term damaging repercussions for the state. So it is a huge disappointment to see the Penang state govt working closely with the BN federal government to permanently entrench private vehicle ownership through bridge infrastructure – even before we can work out a sustainable transport masterplan, as recommended by the leading civil society groups in the state. Can’t we, at least, wait a few months until a progressive transport masterplan is prepared?
One Penangite, concerned about the environment and looking at the hasty arrangements being struck, said, “This is a black day for Penang. Is this government any different from the BN government in terms of the direction it is taking us?” You can see how much the road congestion – even now – has already drained the charm of the island and sapped it of its vitality.
Actually, the new Penang state government has an enormous reservoir of political goodwill from the people following its overwhelming mandate in Penang – which it should not squander on the wrong solutions. If it was to lay its cards on the table and tell the people, this is the new direction we would like to take towards a more sustainable Penang that would be a model for other Asian cities – much like Curitiba is a model for South American cities – it would create such a buzz of excitement and enthusiam among Penangites who value their environment. Many would volunteer their services to sit down and conceptualise a green and sustainable Penang we could all be proud of. This requires a willingness to come together to plan, to engage with the most progressive urban planning and public transport experts (those without vested interests in transport infrastructure firms or projects) and to listen to public views.
George Town now is still one of the most liveable cities in Asia. But, at this rate, for how much longer? Even if we are thinking only of attracting investors, the “liveability” of a city is a major “pull” factor. Would investors – would any Malaysian, for that matter – really want to live in a polluted, congested island that is no different from any other anonymous, overcrowded city.
Penang today is at a crossroads. We can choose to go down a more sustainable path towards a green heritage city with parks, lakes, pedestrian malls, trees, shrubs, flowers, organic vegetable farms and street-level rail systems such as trams and guided buses. Or we can crawl down the congested highway of heavy, unsustainable infrastructure projects that will turn Penang into one huge parking lot shrouded by smog and silt. The choice looks easy to me.
We will live with the consequences of our choices now for generations to come – generations who might one day curse us for the choices we make now. So choose wisely with future generations – not just the next general election – in mind. We need long-term strategies formulated in the best interests of the people of Penang – not politically expedient short-term solutions.