LKY misled on Penang

(The Straits Times) – SINGAPORE Mentor Minister Lee Kuan Yew could have been misled into believing that there was little progress in Penang over the past two decades.

Penang Gerakan secretary Ong Thean Lye said several major infrastructure projects in Penang were completed between 1990 and 2008, the New Straits Times reported on Tuesday.

These included the Bayan Lepas coastal highway, Jelutong Expressway, the elevated bridges from Sungai Nibong to Sungai Tiram, the Jalan Aziz Ibrahim by-pass, the island's central sewage treatment plant in Jelutong and the extension of the Penang International Airport and Teluk Bahang Dam.

'The Butterworth Outer Ring Road and the North Butterworth Container Terminal have also been completed and these were certainly not done in the past 15 months. The Penang Outer Ring Road project was delayed because of objections from some quarters including the DAP, which was in the Opposition then,' he said.

Mr Ong added that flood mitigation projects here and the Yeap Chor Ee-Bukit Jambul parallel road have also beem completed.

As for basic infrastructure, almost 99 per cent of Penang households had been given water supply while about 98 per cent households had electric supply.

'The entire laying of fibre optic cables for the state was completed, making Penang island the first in the entire country to be fully wired for a new wave of telecommunication advancement. That was the reason Telekom set up its national call centre in Komtar,' he said.

Mr Ong said Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng could not be blamed for Mr Lee's remarks which was made after he attended a state briefing in Komtar last Saturday, said the NST report.

'Mr Lim just moved to Penang after taking over as chief minister in March 2008 and we do not blame him for having failed to give a true and honest account on the state's infrastructure progress to Mr Lee.'