Press Statement by The Right Honourable Mr. Lim Guan Eng, Chief Minister of Penang on Friday, 14 August 2015 in Komtar, George Town, Penang.
The Penang State Government announces the appointment of SRS Consortium as the Project Delivery Partner (PDP) for the RM27 billion Transport Master Plan (TMP) to mitigate traffic congestion by 2030 and ensure Penang’s prosperity beyond 2050.
After comprehensive study of all the proposals received, the State Exco on 12/8/15 has appointed SRS Consortium as the PDP for the implementation of the TMP, based on their extensive expertise on mass rail transit and related public transport infrastructure, as well as large-scale township development.
The SRS Consortium comprises well-known names in the engineering and construction and property development industry, namely publicly-listed Gamuda Berhad (60%), and Penang-based Loh Phoy Yen Holdings Sdn Bhd (20%) and Ideal Property Development Sdn Bhd (20%).
Following today’s announcement, the PDP will be working closely with the State Government in the next six months to ascertain the detailed execution masterplan, engineering designs, gather public feedback, and most crucially obtain all State and Federal approvals for each TMP component.
The appointed PDP will be tasked to execute the TMP with no cost-overruns and delays resulting from the non-performance of contractors. At the same time, the PDP will employ strict safety and environment protection standards and measures to minimise the TMP’s environmental and social impact.
The State Government emphasizes that all costs and expenses incurred will be fully borne by the PDP in the event that no approvals for each TMP component is obtained from the Federal Government. In other words the PDP fully bears the risk of expenses and cost incurred which will only be met from the project proceeding, when Federal Government approval is obtained.
With all approvals and planning for the various TMP Work Packages in place, the PDP will proceed to call for open tenders and invite tender submissions from interested parties. The State expects the first TMP project to be rolled out by 2017.
The Penang State Government faces the twin challenges of providing affordable housing and providing a effective and functional public transport. Whilst the problem of affordable housing will be overcome when 22,515 homes are built over the next 5-7 years with another similar number built by the private sector, traffic congestion remains almost insurmountable. The main obstacle is the refusal of the Federal Government to build a LRT or failing that to issue a license to the State Government to build and operate one.
The TMP is an ambitious ‘big-bang’ approach towards facing the biggest challenge of both traffic congestion and public transport by adopting the approach of “moving people, not vehicles”. The TMP’s ‘big-bang’ approach combines air, water, rail and road to provide a “once and for-all” solution to mitigate traffic congestion.
The Penang State Government is confident that the economic prosperity of our economy will be brought beyond 2050 if this final obstacle is removed. The next challenge will be constructing a financial architecture based on a land swap to finance the cost of at least RM 27 billion to fund the TMP. This important issue will only be addressed when all licensing approvals have been secured from the Federal Government by the PDP.
LIM GUAN ENG
========== Mandarin Version ==================
槟城州首席部长林冠英于2015年8月14日在槟城乔治市光大发表的文告:
SRS Consortium 受委为270亿令吉槟城交通大蓝图的计划执行伙伴（PDP）。槟城交通大蓝图将在2030年舒缓州内交通拥挤，确保槟城在2050年之后继续繁荣。
槟城州政府宣布SRS Consortium受委为270亿令吉槟城交通大蓝图的计划执行伙伴（PDP）。槟城交通大蓝图将在2030年舒缓州内交通拥挤，确保2050年之后继续繁荣。
经过对收到的所有计划书充分研究之后，槟城州行政议会于2015年8月12日委任SRS Consortium为计划执行伙伴（ PDP）以执行槟城交通大蓝图。这项委任是基于他们对大型轨道运输及相关大众公共运输设施，还有大型城镇发展计划，既广泛又专精的知识 。
SRS Consortium 是由著名的工程、建筑与产业发展领域的企业所组成合资公司，当中上市公司金务达有限公司（Gamuda Berhad）占股（60%）、槟城本地公司骆宝燕控股占股（20%）及宏升产业集团占股（20%）。
随着今天的宣布，计划执行伙伴将与州政府在未来6个月紧锣密鼓确认大蓝图的各种细节、工程设计、大众意见回馈及最关键的就是交通大蓝图里各组合计划都能全部获得州政府及联邦政府的批准。
受委的计划执行伙伴在执行交通大蓝图的时候，将不允许因为承包商的无能而导致工程超支及延工。同时，计划执行伙伴将严格执行安全及环境保护的标准，在执行交通大蓝图的时候对环境与社会的冲击减到最低。州政府强调若联邦政府不批准交通大蓝图内任何一项组合计划，计划执行伙伴都将必须承担其成本与开支。换言之，计划执行伙伴必须获得联邦政府的批准才能执行计划，不然他们将全权承担开支与成本损失。
一旦交通大蓝图内的各组合计划的准证及企划细节全部到位，计划执行伙伴将会开始公开招标，以招揽对各别计划有兴趣的各造。州政府预期第一项槟城大蓝图的计划将在2017年展开。
槟州政府正面临两大挑战，一是提供可负担房屋，其二是提供一个有效及便捷的公共运输系统。在可负担房屋方面，预计在5至7年后，当2万2千515个房屋单位竣工，加上私人界供应数字相近的单位，问题则能迎刃而解。然而，在交通阻塞的问题上，却依然是一筹莫展。这主要的原因源自于联邦政府拒绝建设轻快铁或是发出准证予州政府，让我们筹建及经营。
槟城交通大蓝图是一个甚具企图心以及爆炸性的方案，它提出“移动人群而非移动交通工具”的途径，用以解决交通拥挤与公共运输的大问题。这个方案涵盖了海陆空及轨道，为交通问题提供一劳永逸的解决配套。
槟州政府有信心，只要移除掉最后的障碍，我们的经济荣景将能持续至2050年以后。接下来，我们将要面临的挑战将是在土地交换的形式下，建设一个金融架构，以便筹集交通大蓝图所需的270亿令吉。无论如何，详情将会在计划执行伙伴获得联邦政府的准证后披露。
林冠英