We gathered at Gurney Drive this morning to call for a review of the Penang Outer Ring Road project (PORR). Yesterday the Second Finance Minister announced that the open tender for the project would be called next year.
We welcome the decision. The original concessionaire PMW should not have been awarded the project in the first place. It had no track record whatsoever. In essence it is a Penang Umno-linked company.
Now that there is an open tender, Penangites should take the opportunity to readdress the issue. Will the PORR be effective in alleviating traffic congestion on the Island?
Next why should the PORR be a toll-road? Pak Lah had promised several gifts to Penang and why the people must be made to pay toll for the next 30 years? It should be built by the Federal government.
If the government if dead-set about privatization, then why not consider the financial module used in the construction of the Jelutong Expressway. It is toll-free and road users need not pay to use it!
The developer, IJM builds the expressway with their own funding in return for an exclusive right to reclaim land off the Jelutong shore for property development.
Chief Minister Tsu Koon said many times that he had no power to set terms because the PORR is a Federal project. Surely Tsu Koon could fight for a toll-free road for Penangites before he moves on to Federal politics after the next general election.
