1970s project transformed us, Penang CM says amid plans for more reclamation

Published by Free Malaysia Today (FMT) • 22/04/2019 • 02:13 pm

Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow at the launch of Penang Development Corporation’s 50th anniversary celebration at Bayan Baru today.

GEORGE TOWN: Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow today credited the Bayan Lepas land reclamation project in the 1970s with saving the state from the economic doldrums, amid Penang’s latest plans to reclaim 4,500 acres off the island’s southern coast.

Chow said the Bayan Lepas project saw the reclaimed area turned into an international tech manufacturing hub.

Without the project, he said, Bayan Lepas would have remained an agrarian economy. But thanks to the Penang Development Corporation (PDC), he added, nearly 1,000 acres of land east of the airport runway was reclaimed and the state’s poor economy revived.

The extra land also saw the creation of Malaysia’s first Free Trade Zone, now known as the Free Industrial Zone, where electronics companies such as Intel, Osram and Bosch established manufacturing plants, he said.

“I want to ask you, if there was no decision (to reclaim land) 50 years ago, would this place still be the same as it was, green with paddy fields, coconut groves and rubber estates?

“I’m sure that the decision that was made 50 years ago was a smart one. It effectively transformed Penang from a sleepy fishing village with high unemployment into an international economy.

“We can look back and be proud and happy that today, the people of Penang have good jobs, good salaries and high living standards. It’s thanks to PDC that Penang has been transformed into what it is today,” he said at the launch of PDC’s 50th anniversary celebration in Bayan Baru today.

Chow said Penang’s current plans to reclaim land off the southern coast would be another boost for the state’s economy, and voiced hope that PDC would help again.

He said “opportunities” await PDC through an active role in delivering the land reclamation project and the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP).

The PTMP is a RM46 billion plan to build highways, rail lines and other modes of public transport by auctioning off the reclaimed islands to the highest bidder.

The three islands project, also called the Penang South Reclamation Scheme, was given the nod by the National Physical Planning Council with 18 advisory points on April 18.

It has yet to be approved by federal environmental regulators as proponents are conducting a second environmental impact assessment, with a public display to be held on April 29.

The state’s priority is to expand the Penang International Airport to one of the reclaimed islands directly below it and to also build a high-tech industrial hub.

Separately, Chow also announced that Penang would have its first Urban Transformation Centre in Komtar by the end of the year. A total of 15 agencies, including immigration and the National Registration Department, will take up the second and third floors of the tower.

Chow said over 50,000 sq ft of floor space would be taken up, and that the government agencies would be open after office hours as well.