With  the hum and buzz of Free Industrial Zone factories on one side and sights of the Penang Channel on the other, driving on the southern end of the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway on Penang Island has always been scenic.

But over the last year, more interesting things have been happening.

Near the very end of the expressway in Batu Maung, concrete piers have been emerging in the sea, marking the foundation work for the Second Penang Bridge.

The 292nd and last pier was cast just last Saturday, paving the way for the 24km superstructure to follow suit.

With the completion date for the bridge now expected to be two months ahead of the September 2013 target, excitement is growing on the ground.

General worker Mohd Tarmizi Yazid, 38, said journeys to and from the mainland would be much easier, especially for lorries and cargo freights.

“Things will be so much faster with a bridge on this side (of the island).

“Lorries and cargo vehicles have limited hours to use the first bridge and it has become very congested,” said Tarmizi.

The father of three, whose family has lived in Permatang Damar Laut, Bayan Lepas, for generations, said the price of land was also rising in the south of the island.

“With the bridge, more public facilities are sure to follow and I’ve heard that the price of our land is going up,” said Tarmizi.

Commuters from the mainland are also counting the days until the new link opens.

Penang Seagate Industries (M) Sdn Bhd manufacturing senior engineer Tan Soo Min said the second bridge could not open soon enough for her.

“If the second bridge wasn’t being built, I would sell my house in Simpang Ampat and buy a small apartment on the island.

“I’m so tired of the traffic jams on the current bridge,” said Tan, 31.

She said that currently, the 33km journey from her house to Penang Seagate via the first bridge takes her 50 minutes in the mornings, while return journeys after work take about one-and-a-half hours.

She said even though her journey to work using the second link would be slightly lon-

ger than if she used the first bridge, she would take the new bridge as long as the trip was faster.

Tan’s co-worker P. Maran, 47, said the second bridge would provide an alternative for commuters.

“I’m excited as there are now two options for people.

“I’ve had many experiences with the first bridge with events putting traffic at a standstill.

“For example, when there was a bomb scare there a few years ago, I had to leave my car overnight in Bayview Hotel Georgetown and take a taxi to the ferry to get home,” said Maran, a production manager who has commuted from Bukit Minyak on the mainland to the island for 18 years.

He said he hoped a good access road would be built to the second link to ensure there were no jams leading up to the new bridge.

Aside from those eager to make use of the Second Penang Bridge, commuters who are nearer the first bridge are also all smiles.

Driver Nasir Udin’s hope is that with the new link, the traffic on the old bridge will be considerably smoother.

“I hope there will be less congestion on the first bridge.

“Now it takes me about 40 minutes by mo-torcycle to reach Batu Maung from Permatang Tok Jaya,” said Nasir, 44.

Fisheries Development Authority Board (LKIM) assistant accountant Manjawati Sam-suddin, 36, said she would use the second link if she heard of any accidents happening on the first bridge.

“Once an accident happens, no matter how minor, semua habis (things are finished). You can be stuck on the bridge for an hour,” she said.

Manjawati, who makes the 112km-round trip journey to Penang island from Sungai Petani every day, added that she hoped the second link, like the first bridge, would offer a reduced toll of RM5.60 (from RM7) for frequent travellers.

Source: The Star

The state government should revive a proposal originally mooted by the former state administrative to construct a road-cum-bridge connecting the Penang Science Park in Batu Kawan and Juru Heights in Juru.

Barisan Nasional’s Bukit Tambun constituency co-ordinator Lai Chew Hock said the estimated 3km-long link was supposed to include a 1km-long bridge over Sungai Juru.

He said the link was vital as there were now more factories operating in the Penang Science Park and in the neighbouring Bukit Minyak Industrial Park.

“The former Barisan-led state administration started planning the link in 2007 as it envisioned a high number of motorists commuting from the housing schemes in Juru to the factories in Bukit Minyak and Batu Kawan.

“However, the plan, which was being finalised just before the March 2008 general election, was shelved when Pakatan Rakyat took control of Penang after the general election,” he said in an interview recently.

Lai, the former Bukit Tambun assemblyman, said that with the Second Penang Bridge slated for completion by October next year, the traffic volume in Batu Kawan town was expected to triple.

He also said the state government should come up with a comprehensive masterplan for its proposed overall development in Batu Kawan.

“With the Second Penang Bridge connecting Batu Kawan here to Batu Maung on the island, there is bound to be rapid economic growth on both ends of the bridge,” he said.

Lai said many locals in Batu Kawan and Bukit Tambun, who were involved in farming, livestock breeding and seafood export, were worried that their businesses might have to make way for development plans in the future.

“The state should gazette agriculture land in this area to give these businessmen an assurance that they need not have to move out later on.”

He said the residents there had no clue of the type of industries and housing projects that the state planned to develop in the area, especially after the Second Penang Bridge is completed.

Source: The Star

GEORGE TOWN (Mar 15): Contractors who are interested in undertaking heritage building conservation work are invited to participate in a Heritage Building Conservation Workshop organised by George Town World Heritage Incorporated (GTWHI) on April 21-22.

GTWHI Education Programme Coordinator Rozaini Hassan said the two-day workshop would be held at the School of Housing, Building and Planning, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM).

The workshop, the third series managed by GTWHI, is aimed at increasing the contractors’ level of professionalism as well as skills and quality in carrying out maintenance and conservation works on heritage buildings.

In a statement to Bernama here on Thursday, Rozaini said GTWHI is targeting building contractors for the workshop and participation is limited to only 40 people with priority given to early registrations.

“The two-day workshop will focus on technique and usage of building materials, namely, lime coating, roof trusses and wood. Participants would be exposed to both the theory and practical aspects based on the topics.”

The workshop is jointly sponsored by USM, Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) and Malaysian Institute of Architects. Participants would be given certificates and points to enable the contractors to renew their registration licences with CIDB.

The workshop fee is RM250 each and registration forms can be downloaded from the GTWHI website.

GTWHI is a body set up to manage, monitor and enforce heritage-related works in Penang. – Bernama

SOURCE: The Edge Property

Residents  in Batu Kawan, South Seberang Prai, are eagerly awaiting the completion of the RM4.5bil Second Penang Bridge, which will connect their hometown to Batu Maung on the island.

The oil palm estate, which is fast shedding its kampung image, is set to become an industrialised township, with the bridge spurring various economic activities and spillover benefits to the surrounding areas.

Local resident Tan Ah Bah, 86, said that in his younger days, he used to walk for miles, ride on horse carts and take boat and ferry rides to go places from his Pengkalan fishing village in Batu Kawan.

“About 60 years back, I remember taking 30-minute long sampan (boat) rides for dua duit (two cents) per ride to travel from Batu Kawan to Bukit Tambun and vice-versa.

“Later on, there were three types of ferry services that were introduced, which were eventually re-placed by tarred roads and small bridges in the 90s,” he said.

To get to George Town, Tan said he used to ride on a sampan from Batu Kawan to Bukit Tambun, then ride on a horse cart to Simpang Ampat before taking a bus to Bagan (now Butterworth) and later boarding a boat fuelled by coal to cross the Penang Channel to the island.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that someday a bridge connecting the island would be built from the humble Batu Kawan village here,” he said with a broad smile.

Fellow resident Chew Kean Nam, 28, said Pengkalan village had one of the country’s oldest Teochew temples in the northern region — the Ban See Ang Temple — that was built somewhere in the early 1800s.

He said the local community would be celebrating the birthday of the temple deity — Xuan Tian Shang Di — with special prayers this Friday and a grand float procession featuring 12 floats on a 7.5km-long journey in Batu Kawan town at 7pm this Saturday.

Batu Kawan estate resident P. Parvathi, 63, an ex-oil palm estate general worker, said Batu Kawan residents had long been waiting for a major transformation to take place in the area to help elevate their economic status.

“Three generations of my family have been living here and we strongly believe that the new bridge project will help create more job oppor-tunities for the locals here,” she said.

Her neighbour M. Amaravathi, 73, said she hoped the government would help build a hospital, market, recreation parks, colleges and places of worship in Batu Kawan.

Student M. Gaayathiri, 22, who is pursuing a human resources management diploma at Island College of Technology in Balik Pulau, said instead of spending more than two hours taking the ferry, she hoped to use the bridge to travel to her college from Batu Kawan.

Foodstall operator Zalina Sakan, 36, said she hoped more shopping centres would soon be built in Batu Kawan, noting that at present many locals travelled far to Bukit Mertajam, Prai, Nibong Tebal and Parit Buntar to do their shopping.

“I hope more factories will set up operations here in Batu Kawan, as the workforce will create a demand for more restaurants and eateries to open to cater to the needs of the growing population,” she said.

Zalina said she hoped the authorities would widen the road leading to the State Stadium in Batu Kawan, noting that the present single-lane road stretch was insufficient to cope with high traffic volume, especially when football matches are held at the stadium.

General worker Shakir Baharom, 55, said he expected the prices of property in the neighbourhood to double, if not triple, with the opening of the Second Penang Bridge.

“At present, a single-storey terrace house that was originally sold at RM58,000 is now going for RM120,000.

“The residents here look forward to the state government’s affordable housing scheme project that will soon be built here in Batu Kawan, but we hope priority will be given to the locals,” he said.

School canteen operator Rosidah Din, 43, said at present there were only three schools — SK Batu Kawan, SMK Batu Kawan and SJK(T) Ladang Batu Kawan — located in the town, adding that she hoped there would be more schools built in the future.

Another resident Salina Bakar, 45, said currently there were only 10 housing schemes in the area, adding that many middle-income earners there hoped more single-storey terrace housing units would be built there.

Fellow resident Murazali Allabah, 63, said he hoped the government would take special efforts to preserve Batu Kawan’s last three Malay, Chinese and Indian villages — Kam-pung Mesjid, Kampung Pengkalan and Ladang Batu Kawan — respectively.

“These three villages are culturally unique and could be used as tourism sites apart from promoting the State Stadium, Bukit Tambun seafood paradise and Pulau Aman homestay here,” he said.

Fisherman Ong Kah Ho, 63, said the bridge’s alignment had affected fish, shrimp and cockle catches in the area, but the fishermen there had found new sites to fish.

SOURCE: The Star

BANK Negara Malaysia said slightly less than half of the applicants for My First Home Scheme were unsuccessful in obtaining loans under the scheme as they failed to meet the eligibility criteria.

These applicants amounted to 505, or 47.5 per cent, of the total applications of 1,062 as at the end of January, said the central bank in a statement yesterday.
The participating banks received a total of 1,624 applications as of January, but 562 were subsequently withdrawn due to multiple applications to various banking institutions.

Bank Negara said from a total of 1,062 actual applications, 389 (36.6 per cent) have been approved by banking institutions, of which 280 have obtained guarantee from Cagamas Bhd, the national mortgage corporation, while 168 (15.8 per cent) are currently being processed by banking institutions, said Bank Negara.

My Frist Home Scheme, launched in March 2011, aims to allow young working adults to obtain 100 per cent financing from banking institutions to purchase their first home valued at a maximum of RM220,000 (for single applicants) or a maximum of RM400,000 (for joint applicants of husband and wife with household income below RM6,000 per month cumulatively).

Applications are made to participating banking institutions and upon approval Cagamas will provide a guarantee for the first 10 per cent of the loan.

The statement was issued following news reports yesterday claiming that the success of the scheme had been hampered by the unwillingness of banks to risk giving loans with monthly repayments that come up to more than half of the applicants’ salary.

In fact, a Chinese daily even reported on March 5 that not a single loan under the scheme has been approved.

Bank Negara said that to qualify, applicants should have the capacity to meet their debt obligations, provide the evidence of a sustainable income stream, good credit history and able to meet the basic eligibility criteria of the scheme.

“The intention is to ensure that young borrowers are not over burdened by debt obligations that may lead to bankruptcies or foreclosures,” said the central bank.

Source: Business Times