Penang Watch

This is an exceptional case: everyday the state government complained that projects are delayed due to Federal govt withholding funds -but even in this case where a lot of fund is allocated for upgrading work the project also get jammed! Penang Hill railway has been stopped often enough in the last 2 years-and the latest cause is the approval of Rm40mil for upgrading work.....It seems that the huge chunk of bank notes are taking a lot of haulage to reach Penang from Putrajaya! Anyone with free seats in a car can help?

Penang Hill closed indefinitely
by Opalyn Mok(Sun)

GEORGE TOWN (Sept 3, 2008): Penang Hill, the state's iconic international tourism attraction, will be inaccessible to visitors indefinitely.

The hill was popular with local and foreign tourists seeking a cool respite from the hustle and bustle of busy George Town during  weekends and school holidays.

Now, the place is relatively deserted with only a handful of people who manage to get up the hill on 4WD vehicles operated by hill residents.

When contacted today, Public Works, Utilities and Transport Committee chairman Lim Hock Seng said the funicular train service had to be stopped since June due to cable damage and it has not been repaired.

"It would cost us about RM1.5 million to repair and replace the cables. It is not viable to do repair works because the federal government has already approved a RM40 million upgrading project for the funicular train service system,” he said.

This means, the ball is now in the federal government's court to get the project going so that the service could be resumed as soon as possible.

However, apart from announcing approval of the upgrading project, nothing has been done.

The funicular train service is only taking residents up from the lower station to the middle station while the service from the middle station to the top had stopped completely.

Lim admitted this has affected Penang Hill's tourism-pull but there was nothing the state could do about it.

"Our Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng is currently meeting with the finance ministry to find out the progress of the upgrading project and, hopefully, he will be able to find out what is happening with the project,” he said.

As for providing alternative ways up the hill, Lim said only the hotel and restaurant located at the hill top are taking their customers up with their own jeeps.

“We also provide jeeps for residents only," he said.

Lim explained that the jeep track is not a gazetted public road and could not be used as a public road to transport loads of tourists up the hill.

"It does not fulfill certain safety features, so we do not want to jeopardise the safety of the public," he said.

However, it is learnt that private jeep operators, mostly residents, are ferrying tourists up the hill from the track starting at the entrance of Penang Botanic Gardens for a fee.

The funicular train service had been facing cable problems since 2006 and the service had been disrupted numerous times over the years.