"DAP officially sold Penang !"
Penang, China ink deal on Butterworth tunnel link
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said today that a 6.5km tunnel linking Penang Island to mainland Butterworth is among the proposed projects with the Chinese state-owned contractor that built the iconic National Stadium in Beijing, popularly known as the Bird’s Nest due to its design.
“We need to alleviate the traffic congestion as well as to improve links so you’ll make the two halves of Penang into one,” Lim told reporters today.
He signed the MoU this morning with Beijing Urban Construction Group Co Ltd (BUCG) chairman Liu Longhua. It was witnessed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.
BUCG constructed the iconic stadium that hosted the Olympics in 2008, which is now slated to become a shopping and entertainment centre.
The construction conglomerate is one of the top 500 Chinese enterprises and has a total assets value of US$5.3 billion (RM15.9 billion) and an annual turnover of US$5.7 billion.
“This will be a major infrastructure project for Penang,” said Lim.
The proposed Penang-Butterworth tunnel, which will be the third link between the island and mainland, stretches from Gurney Drive in the island’s northeast to Butterworth on the mainland.
He said the other two proposed road projects are a 4.2km by-pass between Gurney Drive and the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway, and a 4.6km by-pass between that expressway and Bandar Baru Air Itam.
The Penang CM declined to reveal the cost of the projects, saying: “I need to get permission before I release the memorandum.”
He added that the projects would have to go through an open tender that will be called at least six month at the earliest. "We want other companies to bid for the proposed projects too," Lim told The Malaysian Insider.
Wen, who is on a two-day visit to Malaysia, and Najib witnessed the signing of eight bilateral agreements between the two countries today.
These include mutual recognition of higher education qualifications and strengthening economic and trade co-operation, as well as the MoU with BUCG.
BUCG specialises in the design and construction of industrial and civil works, metro, expressway, deep foundation, airport, long-distance pipeline works, and real estate development and capital operation.
This is Wen’s second visit to Malaysia after he attended the first East Asia Summit and the ninth Asean-China Summit and Asean Plus Three Summit in 2005.
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