Penang at 'tender stage' for LRT project, says Kon Yeow

GEORGE TOWN, May 11 — The Penang state government is at the tender stage for its Bayan Lepas Light Rail Transit (BLLRT) project, said Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.

He said the state has finalised land acquisitions for the project and is now discussing the matter with Putrajaya before calling for tender.

“We have gone through several years of preparation up to the stage of calling for tender for the project,” he told a press conference at his office today.

He said the state is ready to present its report on the project to the relevant ministries.

“The report will help the federal government to evaluate what we have done so far,” he said.

He said the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Transport are calling for a meeting to discuss this project.

“We hope that representatives from the Penang state government will be involved in the technical discussions so we can highlight what we have done so far,” he said.

He said the state’s preparations for the project fits into the prime minister’s wishes to expedite the BLLRT project.

“We will leave it to the relevant ministries to decide on the alignment, other related matters and how to implement it,” he said.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim recently announced that the federal government will fund the BLLRT project and hoped that the state would expedite the project.

The state held a pre-qualification registration exercise for the BLLRT project between July 25 and August 19 last year.

The state was supposed to call for an RFP early this year where only the companies that were shortlisted in the pre-qualification exercise can participate but it was delayed due to funding issues.

The BLLRT is one of the major components of the state’s mega infrastructure project, Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP).

The BLLRT had obtained conditional approval with 30 conditions from the Ministry of Transport back in 2019.

The PTMP is a comprehensive transport strategy for an integrated and modern transport framework that includes public, private, land and sea transportation systems.

Two of the main components of the PTMP are the Pan Island Link 1 (PIL1) and the BLLRT.

PIL1 is a 19.5km highway that is estimated to cost RM7.5 billion while the BLLRT stretches 29.5km with 27 stations and is now estimated to cost about RM10 billion.