Image source: Wikipedia.org

The federal government may enlarge the Penang International Airport (PIA) to accommodate a maximum of 20 million passengers instead of the initial 12 million proposed.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the original proposal was to increase the capacity from 6.5 million to 12 million passengers, but added that this was too small.

“We feel 12 million is too small so we increased it to 16 million and if possible, 16 million plus four million so that the airport can cope until 2035,” he said in a press conference this morning.

He said his ministry will see how it can carry out this expansion plan for the PIA.

“Based on technical specifications, we can increase the capacity to 20 million with the existing land available, using certain land on the edges,” he said.

He said technical issues on the expansion will be looked at and resolved.

He stressed that the current Pakatan Harapan (PH) government was the one to approve the proposed airport expansion for Penang.

“The previous government did not approve the expansion Penang had applied for, did not even allocate funds for it,” he said.

The PIA has exceeded the maximum capacity of 6.5 million passengers and the state government had asked the federal government to enlarge it.

The airport recorded 7.79 million passengers last year.

Lim also assured the Penang government that Putrajaya’s plan to build an international airport in neighbouring Kulim, Kedah will not negatively affect the island state.

“The state doesn’t have to worry that the PIA will close down; once it is expanded, we will not allow it to close so it is impossible,” he said.

He said the federal government fully understood the concerns raised by Penang over the impact of the Kulim airport on the PIA.

“There is no possibility that it will cause the PIA to be closed down. Don’t dwell on it,” he reiterated.

He said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the Kedah government felt that the Kulim airport is crucial to attracting foreign direct investments.

“This is a decision for Kedah that we have to respect,” he said.

He hoped that both the Kulim airport and the PIA will complement each other.

“Most logistics and the supply chain are centred in the PIA so they will likely continue to use the PIA while the Kulim airport will cater to Kedah,” he said.

He said the Finance Ministry does not have any objections against the Kulim airport proposal as the ministry does not have to come up with funding for it.

He said the prime minister’s decision on the Kulim airport has to be respected and that since it doesn’t involve public funds, the Finance Ministry did not object against it.

The proposed RM1.6 billion Kulim airport will be a private finance initiative so the federal government need not fund its construction.

Source: MalayMail.com

A newly proposed residential development by Focal Products Sdn. Bhd. at Air Itam, Penang. Located at the intersection of Jalan Teochew Satu and Jalan Thean Teik, next to Hui Aun Apartment. It is only 1km away from Sunshine Farlim.

The proposed development consists of two 30-storey residential blocks, offering 601 condominium units with 6-level multi-storey carpark.

This project is still pending for approval. Details to be available upon official launch.

Property Project : (to be confirmed)
Location : Air Itam, Penang
Property Type : Condominium
Total Units: 601
Built-up Area: (to be confirmed)
Indicative Price: (to be confirmed)
Developer :Focal Products Sdn. Bhd.

Location Map:

Picture for illustration only

The proposed Penang undersea tunnel project will continue and is in its final stage of feasibility study, says Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.

He said the state government’s technical consultant, HSSI Sdn Bhd, has reviewed the study prepared by Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (CZC).

“The review on the draft report has been forwarded to CZC this month to make necessary amendments before it is finalised and endorsed by the state government.

“The next stage of the undersea tunnel project will be decided by the state executive council, but as of now, the project is still on,” he said in a question and answer session at the state legislative assembly sitting here on Friday (May 3).

The 7.2km tunnel project that connects Gurney Drive to Bagan Ajam in Seberang Prai is under the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP), a state-run initiative.

Chow, who is also Padang Kota assemblyman, said the state government has yet to make payment to CZC.

“We will only make the payment after the final draft is confirmed by the technical consultant and presented to us for approval,” he said.

Answering to Mohd Yusni’s question on the investigation into the project by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), he said the MACC had carried out an investigation into the project in the first quarter of 2018, and no prosecution has been made.

Chow, answering to Mohd Yusni’s supplementary question on whether a public exhibition on the construction of three highways would be held for residents affected by the project, the Chief Minister said the one month public exhibition was already being held.

He said the public exhibition was held along the proposed route including Komtar building, government offices and other public places, while the undersea tunnel project has yet to reach that stage.

Source: Bernama

The controversial Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) and Penang South Reclamation (PSR) project were included as part of the draft Penang Structure Plan 2030 (PSP2030) which is now in the process of being gazetted, the state legislative assembly was told today.

State exco Jagdeep Singh Deo (DAP – Datuk Keramat) said the PTMP was taken into account when preparing the draft PSP 2030.

“The Strategic Implementation Policy was formulated to ensure that the PTMP will be the main basic reference in the implementation of any aspect of transportation plans in the state,” he said in his winding-up speech.

He said the PSP 2030 is a planning document based on legal framework and by including the PTMP into it, the implementation of the mega project will be based on various technical conditions so that it will only bring positive impact to Penang.

Jagdeep said the PSR was also included into the PSP 2030 under its Special Policy for land reclamation.

“The preparation of the draft PSP 2030, which is now in the process of being gazetted, showed that the state government did not plan any mega developments arbitrarily but instead had taken into consideration studies to ensure the implementation of the projects especially PSR adheres to all technical requirements and do not cause negative impacts on the people of Penang,” he said.

He reiterated that a series of townhall and dialogue sessions were held on both PSR and PTMP to give stakeholders the opportunity to bring forward their views on the projects.

“Both projects were carefully planned with technical expertise and had also taken into consideration feedback from stakeholders,” Jagdeep said.

The PTMP is an estimated RM46 billion mega project that includes PSR to reclaim three islands as a funding module for the whole project, Pan Island Link 1 and LRT, among other transportation plans.

The draft PSP 2030 was approved by the state planning committee on March 14.

Jagdeep said it was tabled at the National Physical Planning Council on April 18 and approved.

The structure plan governs the types of development projects allowed in the state while outlining development plans for the state until 2030.

He also said the long overdue Penang Local Plan 2030 and Seberang Perai Local Plan 2030 are now being prepared by the Penang Island City Council and Seberang Perai Municipal Council respectively to be in line with the PSP 2030.

“Both local plans are expected to be gazetted at the end of this year and with the gazettment, it will allow for better enforcement in terms of ensuring agricultural zoning are maintained and not converted for other developments,” he said.

Local plans govern the types of developments and zoning of lands in the area it covered.

Source: MalayMail.com

It’s been a while since we last posted the most active projects. Many people have been asking how is the property market sentiment in Penang with all the negativity around the residential overhang situation.

According to our web traffic analytics, PenangPropertyTalk.com has recorded an increase of approximately 15% in pageviews to 1.16 million for the first 4 months of 2019, up from 1.01 million in the same period a year ago. This is an indication that people’s interest in Penang property remains strong, while the huge overhang is reflecting a mismatch between the supply and demand of house price and location.

Below is a list of 20 most active projects in the first four months of 2019. As indicated, half of them are affordable housing projects.

Top in the list is the affordable housing at The Zen condominium with a whopping 33,525 pageviews in early 2019. This project is part of the mixed development by Asia Green located next to Tun Dr. Lim Chong Eu Expressway. Comprising around 2,000 condominium units in two 46-storey residential towers, 1,200 units of which are categorized under affordable housing. It is almost sold out now.

This is followed by Vivo Executive Apartment which was introduced less than 2 months ago by Aspen Group at Batu Kawan. It is probably one of the lowest priced housing projects in Penang (excluding affordable housing) with an indicative price of RM238,000 onwards. The 1,400-units apartment was fully booked within 2 weeks.

The Tamarind, ranked third in the list, has always been the top 3 most active projects of the year since its introduction in 2015. This 1,104-units executive apartment by E&O Property has continued to draw active discussion as the keys are handed over to the owners this year.

Apart from Vivo Executive Apartment, MARC Residences at Jalan Song Ban Kheng is the next project in Mainland which also make it to the top 20 list. This project stands out with its dual and tri-key concept, which offers the flexibility of generating passive income.

A few popular upcoming projects to take note include Bayan Baru City Centre, Queens Island and Muze @ PICC.

* Projects are ranked based on the pageviews recorded in Google Analytic web traffic report for PenangPropertyTalk.com.

– Ken Lim
(Founder, PenangPropertyTalk.com)