Penang Gerakan Chairman Dato Dr Teng Hock Nan urged Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to reconsider his stop-work order on Electrified Double Track Project.

This project which creates 108,000 job opportunities will be from Ipoh to Padang Besar and bring about socio-economic benefits to the overall economy and the nation as a whole.

Dr Teng said Penang State Government should not hastily use stop-work order as the first option of measure to handle this issue. Stop-work order should be invoked only if the MMC-Gamuda Joint Venture Sdn Bhd who is the contractor for this project refuses to comply with the conditions impose by the State Government.

“This Electrified Double Tract Project which is scheduled to be completed in December 2013 with spur the economy in this region esp industry and tourism”.

“Thus the State Government has the responsibility and obligation to facilitate the construction of this project by working closely with various authorities and departments including Federal Government”.

“This hastily made stop-work order not only will delay the project unnecessarily but ultimately will be causing long term loss to the people and the nation”.

Dr Teng reiterated that this project may cause or aggravate the severity of flood in certain area and agree with the Penang State Government to impose 2 extra conditions but at the same time the State Government must always be ready to prevent and mitigate flood through Local Government and various state authorities.

Dr Teng : “I sincerely urge the Penang State Government to adopt a win-win approach to tackle this issue and also urge MMC-Gamuda Joint Venture Sdn Bhd to comply with the 2 extra conditions soonest possible”.