Penang CM tells of RM300mil love for Ramkarpal

Chow Kon Yeow says election pledges must be fulfilled, even if expensive, and gives examples of projects raised by Bukit Gelugor MP.

Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow cuts the ribbon to open the Paya Terubong wet market and hawkers complex. With him are other state DAP representatives.

GEORGE TOWN: While election pledges can be expensive, promises made must be fulfilled, Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said today.

He cited the example of promises made by Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh in the 2014 by-election, which resulted in almost RM300 million being spent by the city council to fulfil the promises.

Ramkarpal had promised to upgrade the Bukit Gelugor wet market and hawker complex, build a sports complex in Relau, and an alternative link road in Bukit Kukus.

“These projects were promised during the by-election then. Thankfully Ramkarpal won, so the promises could be fulfilled,” Chow said. “We love Ramkarpal so much to the point the Penang Island City Council spent close to RM300 million to fulfil the promises.”

Opening the Paya Terubong wet market here today, Chow said: “It was an expensive election pledge, but we fulfilled the promises.”

The Paya Terubong wet market project had been abandoned for 30 years but has since been rejuvenated after a promise by Ramkarpal when he first contested the parliamentary seat in a by-election several years ago, following the death of his father, Karpal Singh.

The company awarded the project, Patsifit Construction, completed the project two years ahead of schedule.

Chow said he believed other pledges by Pakatan Harapan in the general election could be fulfilled. “Some may take more time, some can be done immediately, while some others need to go through a longer process, from planning to implementation,” he said.

Big data, roadside hawkers and local councils

The chief minister urged local authorities to make use of “big data” in the management of wet markets and hawker complexes.

“In management now, we need to use big data technology. We hope the Penang Island City Council and the Seberang Perai Municipal Council will embrace this new technology in managing our wet market and hawker complex facilities.

“The data of all hawkers operating, the bays which have been occupied, vacant spots, the unlicensed roadside hawkers, these are the data we need to analyse.

When projects (to improve wet markets) were completed, “hawkers who have been slugging out for a living on the roadside, they can then fill up the spots in the new facility, and they will have access to water, electricity and car parks,” he said.

He hoped that issues regarding roadside hawkers could be resolved in his term of office.

Chow, who is Padang Kota assemblyman, said once hawker complexes were filled up, the roadsides previously used for hawking could be cleaned up.

“This is to ensure that the pedestrian walkways can be restored,” he said.

In the past 10 years, the state had upgraded almost all hawker complexes and wet markets, he said.

Present at today’s ceremony were state executive councillors Jagdeep Singh Deo and Yeoh Soon Hin, assemblymen Joseph Ng (Air Itam) and Daniel Gooi (Pengkalan Kota), Penang Island mayor Yew Tung Seang and Patsifit Construction director John Tan Kok Hooy. -FMT