Don’t compare an apple with an orange, Penang CM tells Najib

Chow Kon Yeow says Najib cannot compare the cost of the proposed Penang highway link with the ECRL as both are completely different.

GEORGE TOWN: Showing charts and technical designs, Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow today dismissed former prime minister Najib Razak’s cost comparison of a Penang highway project with the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL).

It was not, Chow said, an apple to apple comparison but an orange to apple comparison and, therefore, inherently wrong.

Najib had compared the proposed Pan Island Link 1 (PIL1) highway to the ECRL, saying the PIL1, at RM461 million per km, was more expensive than the ECRL at RM80 million per km.

Chow said it was also a recycled gross exaggeration first used during Barisan Nasional’s campaign in the last general election.

“I never knew Najib, who once held the highest executive power in the country, would be interested in our project. We welcome his comments.

“But to compare the ECRL to the PIL1 is wrong. We would like to clear the air on these misguided allegations.

“Comparing the costs of two distinctly different infrastructures is like comparing an apple with an orange,” he said at a press conference outside the Penang assembly today.

COMPARISON CHART:

Chow said for starters, the PIL1 was just 20km while the ECRL was hundreds of kilometres.

He said PIL1’s costs were also “all-in” at close to RM7.5 billion, while the ECRL’s initial cost of RM55 billion had ballooned to over RM80 billion, taking into account land acquisition and bank interest.

“PIL 1 is fully funded with revenue (income) generated from the Penang South Reclamation project, unlike the direct negotiation for the ECRL.

“The current PIL 1 cost is only preliminary and will only be finalised after open competitive tenders are awarded to qualified work package contractors.

“Najib has also compared PIL1 with the cancelled Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex). May I remind him that our alignment is 70% tunnel and the rest is on an elevated highway. Kidex is 100% elevated,” he said.

Chow then provided a dossier comparing the technical designs of the ECRL and PIL1. He said the PIL1 was a twin tunnel with three lanes each way while the ECRL was a single tunnel, effectively making PIL1 three times larger than ECRL.

He said as for the viaducts and elevated structures, the PIL 1 was 2.5 times wider than the ECRL double tracking elevated structure, too.

Chow said Kidex was also smaller than PIL1 as Kidex had four lanes compared with six lanes under PIL1. Kidex has been cancelled by the Selangor government.

On Aug 6, Najib questioned Pakatan Harapan (PH) for spending billions on PIL1 when it had accused him of wasting money on the ECRL.

He said the 688km ECRL, which comes at a price tag of RM55 billion, worked out to RM80 million per km, while the RM7.5 billion PIL 1 in Penang would cost RM385 million per km to build, and if the total cost rose to RM9 billion, it would be RM461 million per km.

Najib said PH had claimed the ECRL was too expensive, although the total amount included the cost of trains and construction of 27 stations and 59km of tunnels, and would benefit millions of Malaysians in five states. -FMT