PTMP project will not affect George Town World Heritage site

The light rail transit (LRT) project from Komtar to Bayan Lepas, which is part of the first phase planned in the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP), will not be constructed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site, George Town.

In fact, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the project would not even go near George Town.

"The proposed LRT project will not even touch the UNESCO World Heritage Site, so why make it an issue?

"If they are not in favour of the PTMP, so be it, but it is not right to protest it like this and risking losing the UNESCO World Heritage Site status," he told reporters after launching the waste separation at source programme at Taman Sri Idaman, Air Putih, here today.

Lim said this in response to a letter sent by the Penang Forum to UNESCO headquarters in Paris, which expressed concern that the PTMP would cause serious and specific danger to George Town.

The letter dated June 23 comprised 28 pages with four pages of text, 13 pages of pictures and 11 pages of appendices under the subject 'Melaka and George Town World Heritage Property: Request for UNESCO Advisory Mission and Impact Assessment of Proposed Master Plan in George Town, Penang'.

The Penang Forum, a group of non-governmental organisations based in Penang, claimed the PTMP was threatening the universal value of George Town as a world heritage site.

Lim said he felt like he had been 'stabbed in the back' because the individual who sent the letter was a member of the Penang Island City Council.

"We deeply regret that there are Penangites who want the UNESCO heritage site status be revoked. We will go all-out to defend it (UNESCO heritage site).

This is defamatory," he said.

The Bayan Lepas LRT project, along with the Pan Island Highway Link and the reclamation of two islands off southern Penang, are part of the first phase of the PTMP's implementation.

The RM27 billion PTMP project also consists of a 6.5-kilometre undersea tunnel, three highways and Penang Sky Cab.