YB. R.S.N RAYER - A.D.U.N. SERI DELIMA, PENANG

BUKIT MERTAJAM: The Penang Government will meet the Economic Planning Unit of the Prime Minister’s Department at the end of this month to discuss the delay in delivering the second Penang bridge project.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the Prime Minister’s Department called for the meeting following his remarks and unhappiness over the late delivery of the bridge by nine months.
“We are sincere about cooperating with the Federal Government to build the bridge and if they adopt an attitude not to discuss or give the state government its due attention on the project, we would be forced to think of alternatives (to address this issue),” Lim said after launching the Padang Lalang assemblyman service centre in Kota Permai yesterday.

He declined to say the alternative measures he had in mind.
However, he said, the state government prefers to “find ways to make things work” at the meeting.
He said it was fair for the state government to be allowed to question on the delay and other details pertaining the second bridge project.
“The state government, being a friend and strategic partner in the development of the second Penang bridge, should be included in discussions and decisions on the matter,” he said.

News reports said that the Federal Government had set the cost of the bridge at RM4.3bil over the previous estimate of RM3.5bil.
UEM Builders, on the other hand, in a statement to Bursa Malaysia stated that the completion of the bridge would be extended for another nine months “in order to allow additional time for fulfilment of the conditions precedent as set out in the agreement.”