Penang bypass project to take off after 2-year delay

Some of the heavy machinery being assembled near Jalan Bukit Gambier.

GEORGE TOWN: The building of a bypass which is part of the Penang Transport Master Plan, including the tunnel and three roads project, is on track again after being halted for the past two years.

Yesterday, close to 20 types of heavy machinery arrived from Kulim to one of the sites of the Air Itam bypass road project at Jalan Bukit Gambier.

They include hydraulic excavators, bulldozers and other road-building machines.

It is learnt that the land will be used as a depot for the machines and will be converted into an elevated road later.

Infrastructure and transport committee chairman Zairil Khir Johari confirmed that works will begin on Feb 1 as originally scheduled.

“The contractors are moving in the machinery first,” he said.

Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd, which is undertaking the project, will start work from the Bandar Baru Air Itam section.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the bypass was held in October 2019 but there had been little sign of the project taking off, although traffic cones have been placed in the construction area since then.

The 5.7km bypass runs from Bandar Baru Air Itam to the coastal Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu expressway on the island’s eastern shore. Some 70% of the road is elevated.

Work will begin from the Air Itam side near Lebuhraya Thean Teik, before ending at the expressway in three years. China Railway Construction Corporation Ltd will remain the engineering procurement contractor.

According to state assembly documents, RM5.49 billion will be spent on construction alone, with a feasibility study and detailed design costs amounting to RM305 million, and land acquisition costs at RM546 million.