Penang’s mega-transport plans: Where is the state going to find RM25bn?

57
209

In recent days, we have been given some inkling of the total cost of Penang transport infrastructure over the next decade.

The Edge has provided some indicative figures for the elevated light rail transit’s cross-channel stretch and the systems work for the entire stretch.

That gives a total LRT cost of almost RM17.3bn – much higher than the RM10-13bn that Transport Minister Anthony Loke had quoted earlier.

Together with the Pan Island Link highway (phase 1 only) cost of RM7.5bn, the total comes up to a whopping RM25bn.

The question is, where is Penang going to find this RM25bn? Full article on the Aliran website

Please help to support this blog if you can.

Read the commenting guidlelines for this blog.
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

57 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
luca
luca
7 Feb 2025 9.57pm

See all LRT locations, including houses, apartments, and shops, that could impact your lifestyle, investment potential, and long-term transportation convenience.

The Mutiara LRT Line project will span a total of 29.5 kilometres, with Bandar Sri Pinang being one of the 21 elevated stations for the LRT project. From 21 elevated stations, 20 will be located on Penang island and man-made Silicon Island, and one at Penang Sentral on the mainland.

BJ Minion
BJ Minion
8 Feb 2025 7.37pm
Reply to  luca

Thank you for the video giving us the aerial view of the LRT routes and the stations.

In time to come a car is not a necessity but a luxury.

Heng Ong Huat
Heng Ong Huat
8 Feb 2025 7.41pm
Reply to  luca

LRT network connects strategic locations, fulfilling users’ demands with efficient and accessible transportation hubs at each station.

A Rakyat 8
9 Feb 2025 12.51pm
Reply to  Anil Netto

Shriek says it has to start somewhere. The CM also said the same thing. I am beginning to understand what they meant.

Anil says, ‘It covers a limited catchment corridor on the island and nothing on the mainland except at Penang Sentral.’

I believe this refers to the current construction of the LRT rail system.

A Rakyat 8
9 Feb 2025 12.52pm
Reply to  Anil Netto

The state must have plans to expand the LRT rail network to other parts of the island and the mainland in the future.

If this is true, what will be the actual total cost of the LRT rail system? Am sure it will be hundred Billions. 

Where will the funds come from ? More 50% to 100% increase in rates and taxes ?

GauXiang
GauXiang
12 Feb 2025 6.52pm
Reply to  Anil Netto

Car drivers upgrade from Proton to SUV. Similarly bus passengers are looking forward to upgrade to be LRT passengers.

So please be fair to bus users!

Labubu
Labubu
14 Feb 2025 10.08pm
Reply to  Anil Netto

Past 2-3 years some Penangites have been taking RapidPenang for free with Pas Mutiara. If this offer is removed to get them to take pay to ride on LRT, then we shall witness massive boycott of LRT.
Mind my words here. Seven years later you come back reading this if AnilNetto.com keeps this record.

Lotso Boy
Lotso Boy
1 Feb 2025 2.21pm

Federal government is paying for it. Money spent here is better than going to corruption. Fuel subsidy will be gradually remove to fund such public transportation. Only car users are worried, not those taking public transportation who are looking forward to the LRT.

Heyman
Heyman
5 Feb 2025 10.52am
Reply to  Anil Netto

Feeder bus plying around residential area to bring people to nearest LRT station.

A Rakyat 8
5 Feb 2025 1.51pm
Reply to  Heyman

Has the State mentioned anything about introducing feeder buses to residential areas to support the LRT line ?

Norziah
Norziah
10 Feb 2025 11.07am
Reply to  A Rakyat 8

Just wait for it. The government should have a plan to revamp the cutmrrent bus service onceLRT is in place, to allow integration of services.

Kee Chung
Kee Chung
14 Feb 2025 1.56pm
Reply to  Norziah

That’s right!
Just wait for the new transportation system in 5 years time!

shriek
shriek
10 Feb 2025 9.25pm
Reply to  A Rakyat 8

rakyat 8 – state will never tell you. asking wrong party

shriek
shriek
6 Feb 2025 6.53pm
Reply to  Anil Netto

LRT is usually built where there is dense population. What is the point of building LRT in ulu or sua pah areas

shriek
shriek
9 Feb 2025 7.01pm
Reply to  Anil Netto

It is the same with buses. Buses do not cover all parts of the suburbs.

Rilakkarma
Rilakkarma
1 Feb 2025 2.04pm

CM Chow had stated that road pricing and city entry fees are being considered as part of the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP).

Rob
Rob
6 Feb 2025 3.46pm
Reply to  Anil Netto

Anything must start small, can always expand the network later. After all the complaints are the initial cist already too high!

Wendy
Wendy
12 Feb 2025 7.14pm
Reply to  Anil Netto

Bus to LRT is a step forward.
Bus will still be there to play complementary role.
Trust a new network when the LRT is running.

A Rakyat 8
13 Feb 2025 7.38pm
Reply to  Anil Netto

Since Penang LRT rail system is now under the ownership of MRT Corp., shouldn’t they be responsible for or shouldering the operations and maintenance cost ?

Paddington
Paddington
14 Feb 2025 11.08am
Reply to  Anil Netto

Let car owners pay for the LRT running – higher road tax, higher bridge toll, electronic road pricing, higher car park charges, higher fuel price etc. so many ways to tax car users to subsidise LRT ridership. However many car owners like you refuse to acknowledge this fact.

Nani
Nani
15 Feb 2025 7.48pm
Reply to  Anil Netto

The China high speed rail network is currently operating as a loss venture. But it is a service to connect rural people to the city.

Penang LRT may not be profitable. But it is a new directive to serve people. Look at it as a CSR from the state government.

luca
luca
2 Feb 2025 2.07pm

The Malaysian government is looking to build a light rail transit (LRT) or a tram-bus network in Johor Bahru and surrounding districts, in a move to ease congestion once the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link from Woodlands is completed. This will also improve Johor state capital’s public transport links for its residents, visitors and workers.

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/malaysia-looking-at-lrt-or-tram-bus-system-for-rts-link-to-ease-congestion-in-jb

S M Goh
S M Goh
2 Feb 2025 7.32pm
Reply to  luca

People in Johor Bahru will welcome the news, unlike some Penang people opposing such initiative.

A Rakyat 8
5 Feb 2025 1.45pm
Reply to  S M Goh

Yes, some members of our Rakyat have opposed it. It’s important to recognize that our Rakyat have the right to voice their preferences and concerns.

However, it is concerning that the State, elected by our Rakyat, has chosen to move forward with the LRT project despite these objections, with the first phase already initiated.

shriek
shriek
9 Feb 2025 6.58pm
Reply to  A Rakyat 8

The LRT is on. The questions are the locations of the stations and parking spaces for kapcai and cars. Which are the main stations for interchange to further lines and also buses. They should include some shops.

shriek
shriek
12 Feb 2025 6.51pm
Reply to  A Rakyat 8

Uncle rakyat – that is the world. With deepseek, China is using AI for everything. China is using electric buses. if you love car – change to EV and not pollute the air or raise the world temp. If fact they believe the world’s temp has increased by 1.5 deg C with is COP’s target for the future. Bangkok in Dec has to give free travel on is LRT as it is congested and heavily polluted. Same with New Delhi – largest demo with bullock carts on roads and very bad pollution.

luca
luca
14 Feb 2025 5.02pm
Reply to  A Rakyat 8
A Rakyat 8
5 Feb 2025 1.46pm
Reply to  S M Goh

Those who support this LRT project and have embraced it, should not later complain that it is unsuitable for a small island like ours, especially when it becomes increasingly congested with concrete beams, brick, mortar, sand, tar, dust and more cars. 

Silly looking electric pylons sticking out from the sea along side the 1st bridge is one such example.

shriek
shriek
12 Feb 2025 6.44pm
Reply to  A Rakyat 8

Always kbkb. Without the electric you will not have enough electricity and hide behind the key unknown using the named Rakyat. Laying cables in the seabed very expensive and if anything happen, you dive in the channel and look where is the breakage and expensive to do the underwater repair. You think is easy to find where the cable is broken and repair?

GauXiang
GauXiang
12 Feb 2025 6.56pm
Reply to  A Rakyat 8

Why not you complain about high cat population causing congestion and pollution? LRT is for masses, unlike cars serving personal household needs and wants (2nd and 3rd car). Only those affluent car drivers are making noise as though they know the future when they are the problem of today!

Labubu
Labubu
11 Feb 2025 10.40am

Happy Thaipusam day for those celebrate it today.

For Penangites who may not be aware : the Waterfall Hilltop Temple in Penang, that has a 21.6-metre tall seven-storey main tower, is the largest temple dedicated to Lord Murugan outside India.

Labubu
Labubu
4 Feb 2025 8.46am

For those who don’t believe in basic Feng Sui, just look at the video in the link below of 1982 vintage Penang.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1B9PxARZmb/

After 40+ years, Penang Road stretch still has not regained its glory past? Losing out it’s mesmerising past appeals to modern day complexes like Gurney or Queens bay?

WHY? Because Komtar original vision has not been realized while the smooth flow of “Chi” Energy has been blocked off by the Octopus Overhead Pedestrian Walk, sucking away the vibrancy???????

Labubu
Labubu
13 Feb 2025 11.24am

Quote : Penang Green Agenda 2030, which aims to enhance sustainability through eco-tourism projects and urban greening initiatives. The state government’s focus on revitalising George Town’s waterfront is also expected to further boost tourism and quality of life in the coming years.

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2025/02/13/kl-jb-penang-and-ipoh-are-among-asia-pacifics-best-100-cities-in-2025-here-are-the-reasons-why/166499

#######

Personally I hope more eco friendly projects like improved pedestrian walks and clean straits to attract more dolphins coming.

Labubu
Labubu
11 Feb 2025 9.58am

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1PGq5GnYKA/

Don’t ignore pedestrians. Walkways design is terrible in Malaysia especially in modern Penang. Motor vehicles take presence over walking folks. No wonder obesity is highest in Penang (street food factory taken into account?) and road accidents are frequent.

Listen to the foreign visitors in the clip above.

What say you, the influencers?

shriek
shriek
12 Feb 2025 6.53pm
Reply to  Labubu

They want convenience. once in the car, they will not walk and will drive even is around the corner.

Labubu
Labubu
11 Feb 2025 9.36am

Unhappy people always want others to be as unhappy as they are because it makes them feel like they are not alone in misery, that their life really isn’t crappier than other peoples lives. It’s difficult for them to be happy for others because they are devoid of that emotion themselves and have not admitted to themselves how jealous, and envious they are of others. I avoid people like that because their negativity is like a toxic poison, they spread it wherever they go. Because happiness is a byproduct of gratitude, you can see the people that literally exude that… Read more »

Loong Huat
Loong Huat
4 Feb 2025 11.01am

Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow has announced plans to install up to 1,000 new CCTV cameras across Seberang Perai over the next two years. This expansion aims to strengthen the existing security infrastructure and ensure the ongoing safety of residents and visitors.

Rilakkarma
Rilakkarma
1 Feb 2025 1.58pm

With little more than 1,049 sq km of land to a population of 1.77 million, Penang is only slightly larger than Singapore (734 sq km), but the state has registered a whopping 2,671,237 cars and motorcycles – and the number is continuing to soar with each passing year.

luca
luca
15 Feb 2025 12.43pm
Reply to  Anil Netto

Rilakkarma is comparing the car density, not the land size.

The idiom “can’t see the forest for the trees” means to be so focused on the details of a situation that you lose sight of the bigger picture.

No need to be protective of the increasing car population.

glissantia
glissantia
4 Feb 2025 12.46pm
Reply to  Rilakkarma

Clearing hills, building flats, condos, highways, flyovers, shops, tall buildings = development.
Leaving jungles, wild animals, mountains, rivers undisturbed = lack of development.

Kuromi
Kuromi
5 Feb 2025 10.54am
Reply to  glissantia

What’s the point you are making?
Can you elaborate?

luca
luca
5 Feb 2025 12.55pm
Reply to  glissantia

Overview development progress the new bypass connecting Lebuhraya Tun Dr. Lim Chong Eu directly to Bandar Baru Ayer Itam in Penang.

A Rakyat 8
6 Feb 2025 5.43am
Reply to  luca

Saw the video. I suppose this is a good example of what modern living is all about. Elevated roads cutting through our precious hilly environment, cramped next to pigeon hole building. Wonder how the children are growing up under such modern environment. 

Someone was talking about building infrastructures to support modern living for the next fifty years. Wonder if our precious hilly environment will still be there ? By then, will the island turn into a modern day slum ?

shriek
shriek
12 Feb 2025 6.59pm
Reply to  A Rakyat 8

They built for cars for YOUR convenience. You ask for it. The elevated bridge not for pedestrians or LRTs. Here the elevated bridge 2 x 7.5m = 15 m wide for 4 lanes. But LRT bridge is only 5m wide which is 3 times narrower

Anshitha
Anshitha
12 Feb 2025 7.36pm
Reply to  A Rakyat 8

You can always move to stay in Kelantan. The choice is yours as there are different options for different living.

luca
luca
13 Feb 2025 9.20am
Reply to  A Rakyat 8

Kampung Siam (off Burma Road, near a reclining Buddha Siamese temple and a Burmese Buddhist temple), a settlement of Malaysians with Siamese and Burmese ancestry in Penang, is turning the final page on its 200-year-old existence to make way for development.

The tenants there had pursued every possible option, including appeals to federal court, throughout their 11-year battle to remain in their homes. The courts determined that the landowners have the legal right to develop the property.

luca
luca
13 Feb 2025 8.51pm
Reply to  Anil Netto

More young (and usually rich) people from Kedah will relocate to Penang if PAS continue to rule Kedah after the next GE.