GEORGE TOWN: Where is the completed RM305 million feasibility report for the Penang undersea tunnel?
Penang Gerakan said despite 21 months having passed since the April 2016 deadline and RM208 million paid, the report is still not ready.
State Gerakan acting Youth chief Jason Loo said the delay is highly unusual as the release of the report had been delayed again and again.
“We demand the DAP-led Penang government come clean on the matter and provide an explanation.
“RM208 million has been paid out by the state government by way of land swap, and the private developer had been promoting and selling luxury condominium units on the land alienated to them.
“Again, the state government is helping the rich at the expense of Penangites, by selling our land,” he said today.
The undersea tunnel project was awarded in 2013, and according to the Penang government, the time frame given to Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd to complete the feasibility report was 30 months.
Loo said, back in June 2016, when questioned about the status of the report, the state government said that it was 83 per cent completed.
He added that they also promised that it would be completed by the end of 2016.
“It did not happen.
“In April last year, when asked about the delay in the report again, the state government said it was still only 87 per cent done and promised that the state government would send it six months later. Again, the deadline has passed.
“In October 2017, Consortium Zenith said that the feasibility study was 92.9 per cent done but claimed that they did not want to waste time on the feasibility study at the moment because construction for the tunnel would not start in the near future,” he said.
The undersea tunnel, linking the island and mainland, is part of the RM6.3 billion project undertaken by Consortium Zenith. The project also included three paired roads.
The Penang government had written to the Works Ministry in April 2016, asking for the undersea tunnel project to be changed to a third bridge project.
The ministry had responded that it could not approve major infrastructure projects without supporting documents.
In recent months, various quarters, including the ministry and the Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications director Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan had demanded the Penang government come clean on the delay of the feasibility report.