There are a total of four commissioned reports on a transport plan for Penang. All these reports have remained a pipedream as they never got to see the light of the day. Now the Penang administration under the leadership of Lim Guan Eng want to commission yet another report which is being touted as the first comprehensive study on Penang’s transportation.

The state government has indicated that once the terms of reference are finalised, an open tender will be called for by the end of this month or early April. The full report or Penang’s 2010 - 2030 Transportation Master Plan is expected to be ready next year.

One may wonder how the consultant is going to study our transport problem within such a short period of time. By imposing such a short lead time for studying our transport issues and preparing the transport plan, the state government is virtually slamming the door on all other consultants except those privy to the four previous transport reports.

As such, no other international consultants will be able to bid for the tender. If the tender is awarded to a local consultant who has no previous experience or background in preparing a transport plan for Penang, one may question whether there is a likelihood of crony-ism involved.

And whether this ‘successful’ consultant had been given special access to the previous four reports? If the state government plans to use the four reports as the basis for the layout of the transport master plan, why spend another tonne of money to commission a new plan?

The four reports have been shrouded in secrecy after completion. It is high time for the state government to declassify these reports and make them public. The transportation master plan should be developed through a systematic review of existing transportation conditions, previously identified deficiencies, land use patterns, zoning and land use regulations combined with input from local, regional and state stakeholders.

The plan should be concluded with a set of transportation and land use recommendations that arise out of analysis and through stakeholder input. It should not be developed in a ‘behind closed doors’ manner by a professional group of consultants without involving the relevant stakeholders .

It is unrealistic for a comprehensive transportation master plan to be written within a relatively short time frame. It is hard to convince sceptics that the state government is sincere in solving the traffic woes of Penangites.

It is imperative for the Penang government to identify and establish all major transit corridors where all high-density development takes place. The state government needs to acknowledge the lack of public funding for large-scale infrastructure improvements and should forget about the monorail-type public transport which is hardly affordable.

Innovative funding mechanisms should be identified. Private developer contributions for off-site improvements should be utilised to finance infrastructure improvement along all the major transit corridors.