GEORGE TOWN: The heart of Penang island was chock-a-block with a large number of vehicles plying the road since 11am today.
Checks by NSTP found that major roads such as Pengkalan Weld, Lebuh Pantai and Jalan Penang were filled with cars going into the city centre while roads connecting to the city such as Jalan Masjid Negeri were also experiencing traffic congestion.
Many of the vehicles were not locally registered and certain areas that were congested were nearby eatery outlets as Penang is known to be a culinary tourism destination.
A number of Penang Island City Council (MBPP) officers were also deployed to the scene to prevent people from parking by the roadside causing further congestion.
People coming into the state are advised to check the traffic situation before making their trip.
Previously Kebun Bunga assemblyman Jason Ong Khan Lee proposed for a levy to be charged for non-Penang registered vehicles entering the island to encourage more people to take public transport.
He said with over a million vehicles entering the island daily, the levy would help cut traffic and improve the flow of cars on the island which would solve traffic congestion issues plaguing the state for years.
He said that there were only 300,000 vehicles on the road about a decade ago. However it had grown close to a million vehicles.