GEORGE TOWN: Success in operating mass transit systems comes from leveraging on revenue from real estate holdings and management, said state Local Government Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow.

“Successful mass transit operators worldwide do not depend on trip fares and advertisement revenue but diversify into property to become sustainable.

“A major reason Tokyo’s private rail lines are so successful is their operators’ diversification into real estate and retail,” he said.

Chow said emulating the Japan model could hold the key to long-term financial health for public transit in Penang.

He was speaking at a briefing on the state’s economic outlook and the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) to 48 representatives of 31 Japanese companies in Komtar yesterday.

Besides listening to a presentation by PTMP project delivery partner SRS Consortium business development director Andrew Chan, the representatives were also taken on a tour of the southern coastline of the island where three islands of more than 1,800ha are to be reclaimed as funding instruments of PTMP.

He also told them that construction of the proposed Bayan Lepas Light Rail Transit should begin after next June.

He said the first phase from Komtar to the second proposed island to be reclaimed should be operational by 2023.

The entire line from Komtar to the third proposed island is expected to be ready by 2030.

“We will hold a three-month public inspection period on the LRT from August to October after we get the conditional approval from Land Public Transport Commission.”

Chow said the inspection period was to let the public study the project plans and give feedback.

Also present were Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, Embassy of Japan minister Yoshinori Kodama, Penang’s Japanese consul-general Kiyoshi Itoi and State Secretary Datuk Seri Farizan Darus.