Penang Forum holds protest on first day of sitting
GEORGE TOWN: Penang Forum, a coalition of environmental nongovernmental organisations, spiced things up on the first day of the state assembly sitting by holding a protest.
Holding placards and shouting “No PIL, no highways”, they called on the state government to review the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP).
The group of about 20 people also called for the Pan Island Link (PIL) highway project, a key component of PTMP, to be scrapped.
Penang Forum member Khoo Salma Nasution said the multibillion ringgit project was nothing but a “property play”.
“When you want to plan the transport system, you must go to transport experts, not property developers or construction engineers,” she said.
“PIL is destructive to our fragile ecology. We are already facing extreme weather conditions and massive floods.
“We want PIL to be scrapped and PTMP to be reviewed. When we met the CEP (Council of Eminent Persons), they were also supportive of reviewing the PTMP,” said the former Penang Island City Council councillor.
Dalbinder Singh Gill, 27, who was also at the protest, said PIL 1 would destroy Youth Park.
“Youth Park is a very sentimental park for Penangites,” he said.
“Imagine having a six-lane highway above the people’s heads.”
The PTMP project, which was announced in 2015, comprises an undersea tunnel, light rail transit and three paired roads.