GEORGE TOWN: Penang Yang Dipertua Negeri Tun Ahmad Fuzi Abdul Razak hopes that the Light Rail Transit (LRT) project will take into account the state government’s interest without neglecting the environment and small and medium-sized traders in the planned areas.
He expressed confidence that the project, involving MRT Corp with the cooperation of the state government, can be implemented as soon as possible.
“One of the long-awaited mega projects in Penang is the construction of the LRT with a cost of RM10 billion to RM13 billion which will be carried out through the Transport Ministry.
“Apart from focusing on strategic station and depot alignments, the relevant parties need to consider the state government’s interest, without neglecting or compromising the environmental greenery and traders in the planned areas.”
He said in his address when opening the First Meeting of the Second Session of the 15th Penang State Legislative Assembly here today.
According to Ahmad Fuzi, the state government has requested a total of 93 projects under the 12th Malaysia Plan for Penang, involving an estimated cost of RM17.7 billion, with the allocation required for 2025 amounting to RM2.8 billion.
Therefore, he urged the federal government to consider these applications in line with the state’s records and achievements.
“Penang continues to stand firm and recorded RM71.9 billion in approved investments covering the main sectors of manufacturing and services in 2023, further strengthening the state’s status as a major investment destination.
“Despite our country facing various global economic challenges throughout 2023, we recorded a significant increase of 77 per cent compared to RM16.3 billion approved investments in the previous year,” he said.
However, Ahmad Fuzi said the Penang government needs to take proactive steps to implement a deficit reduction strategy for 2024 while intensifying efforts to increase the state’s revenue.
“In general, Penang is one of the states that consistently shows excellent financial performance as the actual expenditure deficit can still be covered by the accumulated balance of the state’s consolidated fund, thus recording a positive financial performance at the end of the year.
“Penang is also the second state with the lowest accumulated amount of outstanding federal government loans, which amounted to RM36.73 million as of Jan 31, 2024,” he said.
The sitting was adjourned and will resume on Monday.
