Penang will go ahead with its mega projects under the RM46bil Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) and also the RM100mil Penang Hill cable car project even without funding from the Federal Government.State Works Committee chairman Zairil Khir Johari said everything was still on schedule and any delay was only because of the Covid-19 movement control order.“Yes, we have requested from the previous Federal Government to assist in the funding of the PTMP and we will continue to talk to the present government on this.
“For the Bayan Lepas Light Rail Transit (LRT) project, the model has always been to pay for the infrastructure project via land reclamation.
“No federal funding for this project is not an issue as we will raise the funds.
“Even for the cable car, there are always ways to do without federal funds. We are confident that all our projects will go on as planned, ” said Zairil yesterday.
Some RM100mil was allocated by the Pakatan Harapan government during Budget 2020 last October for the proposed Penang Hill cable car project.
However, Putrajaya announced early this month that it had cancelled the funding for the project after Perikatan Nasional took over the Federal Government.
Last year, Penang also wrote to the Federal Government to appeal for a RM10bil funding for the LRT and Pan Island Link (PIL 1), which are components of PTMP.
Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had then proposed to the state government to issue bonds to fund the Bayan Lepas LRT project.
The RM9bil LRT line will begin from Komtar and pass through Jelutong, Gelugor, Bayan Lepas and the Penang International Airport before ending at the Penang South Reclamation (PSR) near Teluk Kumbar.
The PSR is a proposed project to reclaim 1,821ha of the sea to create three islands south of the airport towards the east around Permatang Damar Laut.
The state has proposed to implement the PSR project to raise funds for the PTMP.
The state received the Environmental Impact Assessment approval in July last year with 72 conditions attached.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow had earlier said that the state was still working on finalising the details of the project delivery partner agreement and trying to get confirmation from the Federal Government on providing guarantee for the PTMP’s financial arrangement with banks.

The Penang government today revealed plans to reclaim about 60ha off the Free Industrial Zone (FIZ) in Bayan Baru.
The project, themed “Linear Waterfront”, will begin from the Queensbay roundabout to the second bridge and will have an estimated gross development value of RM1 billion.
Based on an artist’s impression by project owners Penang Development Corporation, the project will have four oblong-shaped strips of reclaimed land attached to the coast of Penang island.
Announcing the project today, Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said it would effectively extend FIZ’s electronics-dominated industrial zone and, at the same time, build a new world-class township.
He said the state government would be calling for a request for proposal (RFP) from interested parties from July 31 to Sept 30 for consideration by the city council and other authorities.
Chow said the winning RfP would reclaim the land and be the master developer for the islands.
“The older FIZ itself is located on reclaimed land measuring 453ha from the Penang Bridge up to Batu Maung in the 1970s. Besides the FIZ, the reclaimed land has been used for other purposes as well.
“The new reclamation project will allow the industrial sector in Penang to develop further and will attract more international companies to invest.
“It must be noted that this Bayan Baru and FIZ townships have raised Penang’s economy for decades and also boosted the country’s foreign direct investments.
“So, I would like to call on those experienced, creative, innovative and qualified to participate in this project,” he said at a press conference at Komtar.
Chow said the proposed project had received preliminary approval from government technical agencies.
He said the project, when complete, would also see new fishermen’s wharves set up., adding that the existing jetties were derelict and needed improvement.
Chow said besides the extension of the industrial zone, the project would entail a waterfront resort encompassing hotels, restaurants, medical, commercial and mixed development.
He said the project would also increase the state government’s landbank in the long run.
Currently, a few reclamation projects are slated for Penang, the key one being the 1,620ha three-island Penang South Reclamation project.
The others include the Seri Tanjung Pinang 2 project measuring 307ha on the northeast of the island, of which 53ha are for the Gurney Wharf project off Gurney Drive.
On the mainland, a 650ha reclamation project off the waters of Bagan Ajam in Butterworth has been mooted but has not taken off.

Incentives introduced under the fourth Covid-19 stimulus package, dubbed Penjana, will help boost investor sentiment towards the property sector.Nevertheless, analysts in general remain largely neutral on the sector, citing subdued prospects due to the challenging economic outlook.
For instance, CGS-CIMB Research said it expected the property sector to trade higher in the short term due to the “feel-good factor” from the positive measures announced.
“However, we stay sector neutral given the weak macro outlook, affordability issues and expected lower property sales, even though the KL Property Index is currently trading at 0.4 times price-to-book-value (P/BV), which is around two standard deviation below its historical 10-year valuation of 0.75 times P/BV, ” the brokerage said in a note.
TA Research pointed out that the measures introduced under the recently unveiled short-term economic recovery plan were “wishes come true” for the property sector.
“Developers’ wishes have finally come true with the government announcing the Home Ownership Campaign (HOC) 2020, along with real property gains tax (RPGT) exemption and removal of 70% loan-to-value (LTV) ratio on third housing loan, ” the brokerage wrote in its report.
“Home buyers and investors are expected to be the biggest beneficiary from Penjana, as measures unveiled would help to reduce their entry and exit cost.
“We believe all private developers will also benefit from Penjana, as the measures should help absorb developers’ unsold stocks and boost sales of new property launches, ” it said.
TA Research noted that while the current accommodative interest-rate environment would continue to bode well for the housing market, it reckoned the loosening policy alone would unlikely revive the overall housing market.
This is because weak consumer sentiment and stringent lending practices remained key reasons for the lacklustre property sales.
It maintained its “neutral” stance on the property sector.
“Although we believe property buying interest will increase with Penjana incentives, the property sector outlook remained clouded by key challenges such as uncertainty of Covid-19 containment, the gloomy economic outlook, cautious spending due to job loss anxiety, unresolved overhang issues and strict lending policy, ” TA Research said.
“Depending on the effectiveness of the government’s efforts on restoring businesses and employment, increasing people’s purchasing power as well as discovering new economic opportunities, we expect a gradual recovery in the second half of 2021, ” it added.
Last Friday, the government unveiled several positive measures for the property sector under Penjana.
The HOC, which would run from June 1,2020, to May 31,2021, would see the implementation of a minimum 10% discount on residential properties, stamp duty waiver of up to RM1mil on instruments of transfer for properties priced between RM300,000 and RM2.5mil, and stamp duty waiver of up to RM2.5mil on loan agreements for properties priced between RM300,000 and RM2.5mil.
The RPGT exemption for individuals would be effective June 1,2020 to Dec 31,2021. This would be limited to disposal of three units of residential homes per person. The removal of 70% LVT ratio on third housing loan was for property priced RM600,000 and above.
“We believe these measures are positive for developers but the impact could be largely mitigated by an anticipated contraction in Malaysia’s gross domestic product and potentially higher unemployment rate due to disruption from the Covid-19 outbreak, ” CGS-CIMB said.
“It remains uncertain whether people will purchase big-ticket items during challenging times despite incentives given and low interest rates (2%), as property prices have more than doubled from 2009, ” it added.
Meanwhile, Public Investment Bank Research (Public Invest) said it remained “neutral” on the measures announced for the property sector under Penjana.
“We believe that in the short term, stresses due to the slowing economy could take centre stage with recovery longer than expected owing to the potential hike in unemployment that could deter big-ticket buying such as properties, ” it said.
“While the tax reliefs are positive, consumer sentiment is still scarred by the Covid-19 pandemic and impact from the movement control order, ” it noted.
In addition, Public Invest said the ongoing political uncertainties and high property overhang could also dampen property demand albeit the undemanding valuations. Hence, it maintained its “neutral” call on the sector.
Source: TheStar.com.my

Penang government has announced a 10 percent discount for all types of affordable housing in the state for a period of one year starting from today.
State Local Government, Housing, Town and Country Planning Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo said the discount package is part of the Housing Ownership Campaign Package (Penang edition) 2020.
“Under this package, the new ceiling price for affordable homes on the island are from RM135,000 to RM270,000. Previously, it ranges from RM150,000 to RM300,000.
“In Seberang Perai, the new ceiling price is from RM135,000 to RM225,000. Previously, it was from RM150,000 to RM250,000,” he told a press conference in Komtar today.
Jagdeep also emphasised that the size of the affordable housing would remain at 850sq ft per unit.
“However, if the property developers decided not to follow the new price ceiling as instructed by the state government for affordable homes and choose to remain with the old price ceiling, they are allowed to do so but under one strict condition that they must provide a bigger size of the unit to at least 900sq ft,” he said.
For the low medium-cost (LMC) housing category, Jagdeep said the state government would maintain the housing price at RM42,000 for low-cost housing and RM72,500 for low medium-cost housing.
“This is done despite other states having raised the housing price for LMC from RM60,000 to RM100,000.
“As a matter of fact, Penang has the lowest housing price for the LMC category in the country.
“All this shows that the Penang government cares for its people and wants to assist the home buyers especially those who intend to buy affordable and LMC homes,” he added.
According to Jagdeep, until June this year, there are 105,719 units of affordable homes that have been built, being built and approved to be built.
“We will work even harder to achieve our goal of building 180,000 units of affordable homes by 2030,” Jagdeep said.
He said the state government also would set a special condition for the property developers to install more public amenities in each affordable housing.
“They include recreational space, multipurpose hall, public library, gymnasium, swimming pool, children’s playground and others.
“We will also set up a condition that the rating score of QLASSIC under the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) must be not less than 70%.
“This is to ensure the highest quality of the construction of affordable housing although the ceiling price has been reduced,” he added.
Jagdeep also announced the state government’s decision to reduce the ceiling prices of between 20% and 40% for foreign buyers for overhang properties in Penang for a one year period.
“For stratified properties on the island and the mainland, the new ceiling prices are RM800,000 and RM400,000 respectively. The previous ceiling price was RM1 million (island) and RM500,000 (mainland).
“For landed properties on the island and the mainland, the new ceiling prices are RM1.8 million and RM750,000 respectively. The previous ceiling price was RM3 million (island) and RM1 million (mainland).
“The decision to reduce the ceiling price of unsold properties in Penang is to clear the remaining overhang units and to assist the property market that is affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“As of today, Penang has 3,043 unsold properties, amounting to RM2.6 billion. An overhang unit is defined as a residential unit that is unsold for more than nine months after it has received the Certificate of Completion and Compliance (CCC),” he said.
Jagdeep said although with overhang units, Penang still managed to control the amount of unsold properties from year to year compared to other states that recorded an increase every year.
Source: Buletin Mutiara