HAVING taken Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz to task for failing to uphold his promise in keeping Penang’s iconic Penang ferry services, former Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has directed his fury on Transport Minister Datuk Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong.
Lim alleged that there is no logic to Wee’s allegations that he is behaving as Chief Minister just because he raised the importance of the 126-year old Penang ferry service.
“Is it wrong for a member of parliament (MP) and state assemblyman from Penang to speak up on behalf of Penangites, particularly when the ferry terminal on the mainland is located in my Parliamentary constituency of Bagan?” he asked in a media statement issued on Dec 29.
“Wee cannot show proof that either the Pakatan Harapan Government or I have agreed to terminate and replace the ferry service which carries cars and people with catamaran vessels which only carries motorcycles and people.”
Elaborating, Lim said Wee claimed that replacing the iconic ferry service with catamarans is a more practical move to protect the safety of Penangites.
“Let me reiterate that the Pakatan Harapan Government was never opposed to adding on catamarans provided that the existing ferry service be maintained.”
Lim, who is also DAP secretary-general, questioned whether Wee is also saying that Tengku Zafrul was lying in Parliament on Dec 17.
Zafrul had confirmed that the Finance Ministry had stipulated the continuation of the iconic ferry service as a condition for approving the RM30 mil cash grant to Penang Port Sdn Bhd to run the ferry service.
“We acknowledge its cost and difficulty of finding suitable replacement and spare parts. New engines can be installed on the conic ferries or 3D manufacturing can produce the spare parts no longer in production,” argued Lim.
“That is why we insisted that the two or three ferries remaining be allowed to operate. In other words, the catamarans will be operating in parallel with the existing ferry services as being practiced by many countries such as Hong Kong or Canada, a co-existence of heritage and modernity.” – Dec 30, 2020
