Proposed Penang Sky Cab now connects Butterworth to Unesco heritage site
The alignment of a proposed Penang Sky Cab project that connects Butterworth to the island will be altered to link to the George Town world heritage site.
Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the project developer, Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB), proposed the new alignment for the cable car system.
“Previously, the alignment was from Butterworth to Karpal Singh Drive, outside of the heritage zone, but now, they have proposed a new alignment within the heritage zone, next to the ferry terminal,” he said in a press conference today.
He said MRCB has obtained approval for its detailed environment impact assessment (DEIA) for the original proposed alignment.
He said the state government is open to the new proposal but added that MRCB must conduct new studies into its new alignment.
As for the existing DEIA approval, he said it is up to the Department of Environment (DOE) to decide whether MRCB needs to submit a new DEIA for approval based on the new alignment.
The new alignment proposed will have the station built next to the ferry terminal on the island either on the northern side, near Tanjung City Marina, or on the southern side, before the clan jetties.
Since the new alignment will involve a station being built within the heritage zone, Chow said the project must also comply with heritage guidelines.
“The station takes up a very small footprint so it will not be a major issue,” he said.
He said MRCB will still need to conduct further studies and look at the technology for the cable car system.
MRCB obtained the DEIA approval in September in 2016 and construction works for the project was supposed to start in 2018.
The project, which is a 3km link, did not take off and is still in the planning stage till today.
The proposed Penang Sky Cab is expected to accommodate about 1,000 passengers per hour, per direction which will reduce dependency on the ferry services.
source from Malay Mail
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