GEORGE TOWN, June 27 — The Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional unity state government will focus on the economy, development, environment and water issues if given a new mandate in the upcoming state elections, said DAP’s Chow Kon Yeow on his last day as the Penang chief minister.

He said the state is bound to face five main challenges such as water resources, land development, talent, climate change and the economy as it heads towards 2030.

"So, if we are given a fresh mandate for the next five years, we will prioritise creating jobs and generating the economy in the electronic and electrical (E&E) manufacturing sector, Integrated Circuit Design, medical devices, digital district and the new economy,” he said in his speech at a press conference in Komtar today.

He said the Penang Strategy for Economic Ecosystem Development or Penang SEED will be the guideline for the state’s economic development plans over a five-year period.

Penang SEED is expected to spur a growth trajectory of 3.5 per cent that will be maintained each year between 2023 and 2028, he said.

He said the strategy is expected to achieve annual growth of up to 5.8 per cent by attracting more than RM10 billion in approved investments with the job markets expecting to expand by 1.4 per cent.

He said they will also look at improving the traffic conditions in the state, overcome climate change issues and implement the Water Contingency Plan 2030.

Chow said detractors had criticised the PH state government as being "slow” but the state had recorded a total of RM200 billion in investments since 2008.

"Based on the latest Department of Statistics Malaysia data, Penang came up first in the country with a growth of 13.1 per cent in 2022 compared to 6.9 per cent the previous year,” he said.

He said Penang recorded a Gross Domestic Product of RM112.1 billion last year as compared to RM99 billion in 2021.

He said Penang remained the country’s leading exporter by contributing 30.8 per cent of overall exports.

Chow said the state government has also fulfilled 90 per cent of the pledges in their 2018 Manifesto.

"As of June, a total of 61 manifesto pledges were fulfilled,” he said.

Penang Speaker Datuk Law Choo Kiang said he received the signed proclamation of the dissolution of the state legislative assembly today.

He said it will be effective from tomorrow and the current administration led by Chow will be the caretaker government until a new state government is formed.

The dissolution of the state legislative assembly paves the way for the state elections to be called.

It is expected to be held concurrently with five other states in early August.