New Penang Bridge, to build or not to build?
For someone who holds Penang dearly at heart, the recent saga of events regarding the Penang Bridge is of some interest. Let me present the case and let my reading audeince decide (or keep being confused as I am) on what should be done.
For many years, the Penang Bridge has exceeded the capacity it was built for, thus making it congested everyday and extremely so when the flood of visitors arrive in Penang during the holidays. Hence, there was debate on what should be done about this, thus, several sites were proposed for the new bridge. One scheme was extremely costly and called for part of the crossing to be a tunnel.
There was not only a debate whether to build a bridge or tunnel, a lot of debate went on about where to put this bridge. Some leaders wanted it to ease the traffic in George Town. Others wanted it a distance away, near the Airport, in a place called Batu Maung.
The idea was for the bridge to serve the new Penang Administrative enclave called 'Bayan Mutiara'- a mini Putrajaya. At the same time, this new bridge would allow the area called Batu Kawan to develop on the mainland. Batu Kawan is home to the impressive Batu Kawan stadium and would be the future site of the Penang Turf Club once the Turf Club on the island is decommissioned.
When I first saw the plans for this bridge, I had my doubts:
1. The proposed bridge will be at least 22 KM long. How much will the toll be if it was built? Perhaps more than the RM7 for crossing the old bridge.
2. The journey from Batu Maung to the city centre is 50 minutes when there is no traffic. What if there is traffic?
3. Batu Kawan and Batu Maung are out of the way for most Penangites who are uncomfortable travelling outside their universe. Any journey that takes more than 20 minutes is extremely far. While KL-ites are used to travelling over 100KM a day, Penangites do not.
After so many months of silence, the newspapers reported last week (The Star, 14 Sept) that
"The Federal Government has approved the proposed multi-billion ringgit second link project connecting Penang island and the mainland.Deputy Works Minister Datuk Mohd Zin Mohamed said the link had been identified as one of the projects under the five-year 9th Malaysia Plan, which starts in 2006.
The second link, which will connect Batu Maung on the island and Batu Kawan on the mainland, is deemed by the authorities to be necessary as the volume of traffic on the Penang Bridge will soon reach its maximum daily capacity of 100,000 vehicles."
Several months prior to this, the Penang govenrment reported that they have lost the plans to the Penang Bridge as they failed to locate it when there was talk to expanding the bridge. The Federal government didn't have the plans either, and rumour has it that the government had to ask the Koreans who built the bridge for the plans. How embarassing for us. I darenot imagine the workings of the PWD and the State government who are to blame for this blunder and embarassment.
I think they finally found the plans because, today, The Star reported the following:
"Penang Bridge to be widened to six lanes (20 Sept)KUALA LUMPUR: The Federal Government has decided to widen the existing Penang Bridge instead of building a second link from the mainland to the island.
Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said the existing bridge would be widened from its present four-lane carriageway to a six-lane carriageway.
Samy Vellu announced this at the Asean Skills competition event at his office here on Monday.
What is going on with the bridge? And which scheme has the government decided on? Does Penang need a new bridge? Or is this extension the more viable solution?