GEORGE TOWN, Dec 25 – Penang State Government wanted to turn Penang into the most livable city, but in fact of Penang had become the most uninhabitable State in Malaysia due to themost basicpedestrian safety has been exploited, said Penang Tanjung MCA Youth Chief Lim Swee Bok.
He said the bicycle lane concept by the Penang State Government is not exclusive for the cyclist, but it is using as “road sharing” concept which is the blinds, people with disabilities, elderly people and the children to walk with the bicycles and motorbikes in the same lane. Meanwhile, he also asked that how these vulnerable group will fall into a dangerous situation.
“Meanwhile, the State Government earlier also announced that the concept of the bicycle lanes shared by pedestrian and bicycles and caused yellow blind walkways were razed by Penang Pakatan Harapan government and replaced by the bicycle lanes. This is completely at the expense of the interest of vulnerable groups to fish for cyclists’ vote,” said Lim.
“In the meantime, I would like to urged the State Government to ensure that basic pedestrian safety is prioritised. I hope that the State can do something which to tackled the indication of poor planning as soon as possible,” he told a press conference on Jen Hotel on Thursday with accompanied by MCA Komtar task force head Tan Hing Teik.
Tan said the State Government’s behaviour is “disorderly” because the bicycle lane should not be planned in this way. He said now the road design and urban planning in Penang City are for vehicles and it is unfriendly for bicycles. Meanwhile, he also said that the State Government must completely remodel the existing urban structure in Penang Structure Plan and Local Plan every five year but the plan has still not updated since 2007.
In additional, he also said he hope that the State Government had a good planning on this bicycle lanes issues which only build the bicycle lanes after releasing Penang Structure Plan and Local Plan which to ensuring the safety of the cyclists and pedestrian. Also present were Penang MCA Youth deputy secretary Ooi Teik Liang in the press conference here Thursday.
