It was the Pakatan Harapan administration that mooted and approved the idea of replacing the iconic Penang ferry services with a catamaran, revealed Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong.
He took to social media tonight in response to former finance minister Lim Guan Eng who accused the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government of "betraying" Penangites with the proposed termination of the 126-year-old car-carrying ferry service from Jan 1, 2021.
"Alas, he is a bit forgetful. What he and DAP ministers had promised, announced, and implemented during Harapan's rule. Let me reveal them one by one," said Wee.
“He accused that the ferry service was being terminated but it was not. Did he not understand the language and deliberately twisted the facts? It was stressed that the ferry service will not be completely terminated. Instead, it will be improved," he said.
Wee said his predecessor, Anthony Loke had announced in the Dewan Rakyat on Aug 1, 2018, that a total of RM90 million would be allocated to improve the ferry services, which included the purchase of three water buses and two roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) ferries.
According to Wee, in August 2019, Loke said the plan could not be implemented as the government decided to negotiate with Penang Port Sdn Bhd to take over the ferry service and invest in a new catamaran.
"On Aug 27, Penang Chief Minister Chow Kuan Yeow and the state secretary met with me, my deputy minister, and the ministry's secretary-general. We spoke frankly and expressed our wish to improve the existing ferry service with the catamaran as planned by Harapan then," he said.
"Now, the entire DAP machinery is criticising PN. Why?" questioned Wee.
"Lim surely knows about the matter. He was the then finance minister when the Harapan government agreed to introduce the catamaran and use the available ferry as a tourist ship only," he said.
"The RM90 million allocation announced by Loke wasn't backed by Lim himself to maintain the current RoRo ferry which could ferry the cars.
"But I believe that Lim does not remember all this himself," he said.
"According to Lim, heritage and history are something that money cannot buy. The fact is, the catamaran as a replacement for the existing ferry was approved by DAP when they were in the government," Wee said.
He said that while the Harapan government approved of the recent plan to retain the ferry service, it was he who discussed with Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz to get an allocation of RM30 million to upgrade the service.
"What is the sin of the PN government for doing so? What is the logic in saying we have betrayed the Penangites as leveled by Lim?" he asked.
"In conclusion, he is only good at staging a drama," Wee accused.
The car-carrying ferry service was expected to cease operations on Dec 31 and would be replaced by smaller ferries meant only for pedestrians and motorcycles.
In a statement yesterday, Lim, who is the former Penang chief minister, expressed frustration with the move to end the service.
Zafrul then said that the iconic ferry service would remain and Putrajaya had approved an allocation of RM30 million to the Penang Port to take over the ferry service. - Mkini
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