KUALA LUMPUR: The Penang government has put a stop to the feasibility study on the proposed 7.2km undersea tunnel linking Penang to Butterworth.
Consortium Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd’s (CZBUCG) chairman Datuk Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli said the company had stopped its feasibility study for the undersea tunnel following a request by the state government a month ago.
“They did not provide any explanation on stopping the feasibility study for the undersea tunnel, but want us to focus on the highway projects for now,” Zarul told a press conference yesterday.
He said the consortium had spent some RM100mil on the feasibility study, which could be claimed from the Penang government.
Asked if the project was shelved in preference to the construction of a third bridge for the island, Zarul was non-committal.
“We will cross the bridge when we get to it,” he said.
Although there was no compensation clause in the contract with the state if the undersea tunnel project was cancelled, he said the company could still make claims for work done.
The undersea tunnel and three paired road project was awarded to the company in 2013 and is estimated to cost some RM3.2bil, with financing coming from a land swap deal involving 45.5ha to be reclaimed.
On the three paired road project, Zarul said CZBUCG planned to start work this September after getting the nod from the state.
He claimed that the feasibility and detailed design fees for the three paired roads was RM220mil, of which the state had paid about RM135mil through a 1.485ha land swap deal.
On the financing for the three road projects, Zarul said CZBUCG had approached institutions for it.
“The funding for the project would be a mix of investors and bank borrowings. We have our own formula such as in the form of a property fund, where they will pay us first and then get the land later,” he said.
Zarul said the consortium will hold a roadshow and town-hall meetings in Penang in early August to explain the project to Penangites.
On a separate issue, Zarul said the consortium had filed a defamation suit against Parti Cinta Malaysia’s vice-president Datuk Huan Cheng Guan for his allegations concerning the projects.
“I am not a person who likes going into a war zone and taking defamatory action is not my style.
“However, I have been pushed to the wall,” he told reporters at a press conference yesterday.
Huan, who has been vocally critical of the project, had lodged two reports with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission over the last two weeks.
Huan also plans to sue CZBUCG and the Penang government.
