Sustainable Development and Worldviews

The newly launched National Transport Policy 2019-2030 (NTP2030) aims to set the agenda for our country’s transport sector along with the technological advances enabled by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimated that the second largest sector (35%) with investment need is in transport infrastructure. That translates to US$37 billion a year for developing economies to enable them to “continue its economic growth momentum, eradicate poverty, and respond to climate change.”[1] Separately, in Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s (AIIB) report, the projected investment need for “transport infrastructure to support trade and economic growth” was in the region of US$500-900 billion a year.[2] In fact, the transport sector took up the largest share of AIIB’s services.[3] However, among 22 developing countries in the ADB’s report, Malaysia was the third lowest with infrastructure investment. Neigbouring countries such as Philippines, Myanmar, Indonesia, and...

As Penang is gearing up to construct Light Rail Transit (LRT), the civil group Penang Forum had organised a forum called 'Penang Light Rail Transit: A Solution or Financial Distress' over the weekend to reject the plan and to replace the LRT with Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit (ART), Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), and conventional tram system. The main difference between the NGOs’ suggestion and the State Government’s is whether to build the transport system on the ground or on elevated tracks. The NGOs want the system on the ground, regardless if it’s ART, BRT, or tram. Their main rationale is that it is cheaper. The basis for the NGOs’ claim is the Halcrow Report, prepared by consultants in 2013 as a guide for Penang’s transport plan. But the NGOs are wrong for two reasons. First, the estimated cost stated in Halcrow Report that the NGOs referred to is unverified and incomplete. Halcrow’s estimate doesn’t even include the cost for land acquisition, which c...