Terminating Iconic Ferry Service Ignores Penang S Unique Heritage

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The planned termination of the 126-year-old car-carrying ferry service in Penang will take away part of the state's unique heritage and history and ignores the fact that George Town is a Unesco World Heritage Site, said DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.
The ferry service is expected to cease operations on Dec 31 and will be replaced by smaller ferries meant only for pedestrians and motorcycles.
Commuters in cars would have to use the two Penang bridges to cross the channel.
Lim, who is the former Penang chief minister, expressed frustration with the move to cease the service.
"This cold and callous approach totally ignores both Penang’s unique heritage and history, (which plays) an important role as an economic generator of tourism.
"Ending the ferry service will take the romance out of going to Penang in the traditional manner, bearing in mind that George Town is a UNESCO World Heritage city.
"Heritage and history are something that money cannot buy and should be treasured for future generations," said Lim in a statement.
He also urged the transport ministry not to "abandon" Penang and its iconic ferry service, adding that many foreign countries still retain their original ferry services.
Even though they may not be economical but they are retained due to their intrinsic worth and intangible value to heritage and history, added the Bagan MP.
For the record, Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong revealed in Parliament that only 200,000 vehicles used the ferry service, compared to 1.2 million pedestrians using the same service.
Lim noted that the previous Pakatan Harapan federal government had transferred the management of the ferry service to Penang Port Sdn Bhd from Prasarana Bhd with the understanding that the iconic service must be retained together with cash payments as an incentive.


He accused the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government of "betraying" Penangites with the termination and mentioned that the transport ministry has been insisting on full control over water transport and ferry services in the state since 2015.
"To save the ferry service, the Penang government had offered to take over the entire Penang water transport services and ferry service in 2015 by bearing its costs.
"Unfortunately, the Transport Ministry in 2016 refused to grant full authority to the Penang state government and insisted on exercising regulatory control over water transport and ferry services in Penang, even though the Transport Ministry was not footing the bill," said Lim.
Other than the car-carrying ferry service termination, he said this is not the first time Penangites have been "betrayed" by PN.
"The RM100 million allocated in the 2020 Budget to build the cable car on Bukit Bendera was also terminated.
"Similarly, the promised bank loan guarantees by the previous Harapan government to build the LRT to overcome the chronic traffic congestion in Penang and Seberang Perai was also cancelled," he said. - Mkini

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