The first phase of Penang’s integrated transportation hub, dubbed Penang Sentral, will be operational by December this year, The Sun reports. Penang chief minister Chow Kon Yeow said the opening of the new terminal at Bagan Dalam will provide better facilities for public transport in the state.
“It is another step further to improve public transport connectivity between bus, railway and ferry services,” he told the press, adding that ferry and railway services are needed to be improved next. “The rail services frequency to Penang and northern region can be improved, especially the commuter services from Butterworth to Kamunting or Butterworth to Alor Star,” he said.
Additionally, catamaran (a multi-hulled watercraft) services will also be introduced to supplement ferry services, and Penang Sentral has already identified a site to cater to that. As for the new light rail transit (LRT) line that is expected to connect the island and the mainland, Chow said specific hub locations have already been identified, although further details were withheld.
Penang Sentral is said to be modelled after KL Sentral, and the project is undertaken by Penang Sentral Sdn Bhd under the Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB). The project sits on 22.65 acres (over 91,600 square metres) of land, of which it had issues acquiring since 2007.
Company CEO Shireen Iqbal said the recently completed integrated hub for bus, rail and sea transportation services costs about RM230 million. “There are a total seven phases for this overall project, phases two, three and four are for the hotel, retail mall, and office tower,” she said. The gross development value for the whole project is at RM2.8 billion, Shireen said.
The terminal itself will be five-storey tall, and it’s expected to handle between 2,000 to 3,000 passengers daily. Once fully integrated, it could even handle between 3,000 and 4,000 passengers per day. The terminal consists of four storeys of carpark space, 38 bays for buses as well as 55 retail shops.
The scheduled completion for the whole Penang Sentral project is by 2030, and it will also be a hub for future Light Rail Transit (LRT) services. The building is also suitable to place an Urban Transformation Centre (UTC), said Chow.
“I was told that the federal government had identified the old MPSP building for UTC but I don’t have any updated information on that. This place would be suitable for the UTC,” he said. The final decision on the UTC, however, will be left to the federal government to decide.
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More public transports r gud but why need catamarans when theres Rapidferry? More unnecessary wastage of money?
Do you have any clue how slow the current ferries are?
Its just crossing the narrow strait between island and mainland, not like going from Circular Key to Manly or Taronga. The trip dun take long so why need cats? It will only spend more money to buy and maintain them while cannibalising ridership from Rapidferry. If Rapid can increase frequency, the slower ferry journey is moot.
That proposed catamaran is not just for crossing the narrow straits to Jetty at Island, in fact catamaran will connect Butterworth/Penang Sentral to different spots in the island, like Tanjong Tokong, Straits Quay, Bayan Lepas, Queensbay, Jetty of course and etc. And for sure, this different places will connect to each other with catamarans as well.
Public transportation > All