Bangalore, or Bengaluru, is the capital of the southern Indian state of Karnataka.
The city, home to about 8.5 million people, is the third most populous city in India.
Bangalore is known as the Silicon Valley of India and as the richest city in the country, the car ownership there is naturally staggering. Its roads are choked with a whopping 4.5 million vehicles.
As a long-term solution, the Indian government has embarked on an ambitious Bangalore Metro Rail project, covering 250km.
It is projected that by the time the project reaches its final phase in 2020, the Metro Rail or locally known as “Namma Metro” has the capacity to move between two million and 2.5 million commuters daily.
Penang is no Bangalore but George Town faces the same problem — notorious traffic gridlock.
In 2011, Penang recorded 106,514 new vehicles registration, earning it third place behind Kuala Lumpur and Johor.
From this figure, it is projected that the number of vehicles in Penang would easily soar to one million units in 10 years and this excludes the existing vehicles already on the road at the moment.
During his visit to Penang last month, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had proposed a holistic traffic dispersal system that includes, among others, the monorail system.
However, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng took a different stand on the matter, saying that his state government preferred the tram system to the monorail.
He later announced that the state government was going ahead with its plan to build a 6.5km undersea tunnel linking Gurney Drive in the island to mainland Bagan Ajam.
The announcement sparked a public debate, especially among the local non-governmental organisations.
They are questioning the need to build the tunnel since the main issue at hand is to resolve the traffic gridlock in the island and not the traffic dispersal between the island and Seberang Perai since the state already has Penang Bridge and ferry services.
For the record, the 13.5km Penang Bridge has been widened to a three-lane on both sides while the Second Penang Bridge is due to be completed by the third quarter of this year.
The social activists here are questioning whether the undersea tunnel is part of a holistic masterplan to ease the traffic congestion on the island.
Coastal fishermen near Gurney Drive and Bagan Ajam have voiced their concerns over the potential threat of the undersea tunnel to their livelihood.
They are worried that the construction of the tunnel would disrupt the marine ecosystem and the Penang channel currents, thus affecting the livelihood of the over 1,000 fishermen along the Seberang Perai coastlines.
Prof Zulfigar Yasin of Universiti Sains Malaysia’s School of Biological Sciences has cautioned that the undersea tunnel construction works would change the Penang Channel seabed and its currents.
It will take years for the marine ecosystem to fully recover and this would compromise the fishermen’s livelihood.
During a public dialogue recently, Lim made a firm stand that his state government would proceed with the project, subject to the Environmental Impact Assessment approval.
While Lim was willing to risk his political career, the concerned fishermen and environmentally-conscious Penangites are hoping that the project would be scrapped.
One thing for sure, seven years from now, it would be a breeze for the people of Bangalore to commute daily in their “Namma Metro” while it remains to be seen whether Penangites can leave their cars at home when they go to work.
2011 The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad