GEORGE TOWN, Jan 7 — The land allocated for one of the Penang Mutiara Light Rail Transit (LRT) stations in Sungai Pinang was not previously marked for low-cost housing, said Penang chief minister Chow Kon Yeow.
He said the land was initially marked for the construction of a school.
“It was for a school, but we have already discussed this with the education department since it was identified as a site for a LRT station,” he told reporters after attending a gathering with civil servants at the Dewan Sri Pinang today.
He said the land is only big enough for the LRT station and would not be able to accommodate a school.
He stressed that the land was not marked for low-cost and low-medium housing as claimed by Penang Gerakan.
Before this, Penang Gerakan chairman Oh Tong Keong claimed that low-cost housing was supposed to be built on the land in Sungai Pinang.
Chow also said he attended the federal government LRT procurement meeting yesterday where MRT Corporation gave a presentation on the project and details of the contract for the project.
He said he will leave it to the minister to make further announcements on the contract details.
He said the Penang Mutiara LRT Line will be officially launched by the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim this Saturday.
“I was informed that the groundbreaking ceremony is this Saturday,” he said.
Earlier, in his speech, Chow said as of December 31, 2024, a total 306 projects were approved for Penang under the 12th Malaysian Plan.
“From that total, 246 projects were new under the 4th rolling plan and 60 were project continuation,” he said.
“The total project costs for Penang were RM28.406 billion and the allocation approved for 2024 totalled RM1.356 billion,” he said.
However, of the amount allocated, only RM1.108 billion or 81.76 per cent was used.
“We are entering the 5th rolling plan in 2025 and the state has submitted its wish list for 10 priority projects,” he said.
Of the 10 projects, two were rejected but the remaining eight are under consideration by the Economic Ministry, he said.
The eight priority projects being considered included two major infrastructure works such as the construction of an underpass linking Mount Erskine to Burmah Road and the controversial Pan Island Link I (PIL1).