Culture
The Thing Called PORR
or Twenty Years Late
|
Culture
The Thing Called PORR
or Twenty Years Late |
Twenty years A group of men study the plans of a city. They also have before them a report of a study of the city's traffic. The city is hundreds of miles away. These men are planners, and they are thinking out a road alleviation system for that town. They take their time, for they are busy bureaucrats, and have other work to do. After twenty years they finally produce the Plan. Unbelievable? But it's true. The KL bureaucrats, twenty years after 1980, have now thrust their brainchild called the Penang Outer Ring Road Plan (PORR) upon Penang. During those years, sales of cars and motor cycles have shot up, the traffic is choking the town; and the city is bursting at its seams. You get some idea of the foolishness when you look at the history. First, there was in 1980 a JICA - Japan International Corporation Agency - study called the Urban Transport Study in Greater Metropolitan Area of George Town, Butterworth and Bukit Mertajam. It proposed "Outer Ring Roads" for George Town and Butterworth. This formed the basis of KL's study JICA made a second report in 1987, recommending a computerised area junction control system which was killed by the staggering growth of traffic and lack of funds. In year 2000, Halcrow Consultants were asked to make a study of Penang Urban Transport. The terms of reference were a joke, because Halcrow were not asked to review the proposals of the JICA made in 1980. The assumption was that PORR was final. However Halcrow did warn: " In many cities the response has been simply to construct new roads to build themselves out of the problem. However experience in Europe and North America has shown that these schemes often have only a short impact as they frequently either moved the congestion problem around or generated increased traffic growth. There is now an increased recognition that the way forward need to be based on a more integrated approach across a range of modes with a greater emphasis on planning and management." Perhaps those planners in KL were not aware of these words? |
| Between
1980 and 2001 The traffice growth between 1980 and 2001 has been astonishing. The Star newspaper, quoting June 2002 RTD figures, reported that the state had 724,000 motor cycles and 459,000 cars. Penang, measuring only 1030 square miles ranks fourth after KL, Johor and Selangor in cars but the average private vehicle ownership is almost one to one compared to Selangor's one to two. In year 2000, Penang with 3% of the country's paved roads had 10% of registered vehicles running on its roads (an estimate by Ganesh Rasagam). Penang had 561 vehicles per km of road compared with Hong Kong's 271 and Singapore's 223; 321 cars per 1000 persons compared to 96 for Singapore and 49 for Hong Kong. Vehicle density (vehicles per km of road) is more than twice that for Singapore and Hong Kong! As for road deaths: in 2000, ours was three times that for the whole country. The number of accidents per 10,000 persons in Penang is almost four times the national average in 2000. No wonder Penang is shocked by PORR. Those planners in KL were looking at the world of 1980, when JICA reckoned with only 88,800 cars on the road. KL works in hush hush conditions. Back benchers complained that they had been kept in the dark, Lim Chien Aun, BN, Bayan Lepas leading the pack. And it's the same with other matters given over to the federal authority. Penangites are justifiably miffed that they have no control over bus and taxi licences, nor do they have even control over the environment, as the threat to the Court grounds and the Logan Memorial demonstrate. PORR was thrown at Penang without a word of explanation. That is why opponents of PORR have called for openness and a review of the options available like bus services and light rail transport. They point out that The 17 km of PORR will cost RM1.02 billions which works at out at RM60 millions per kilometre. Ganesh Rasagam, the traffic expert, has pointed out that the conventional method of estimating the benefits of a particular highway project is to estimate the savings in travel time and the reduction in vehicle operating costs from higher average travel speeds and reduced delays compared to without the highway. He argues persuasively that while this model may have worked in the past when the first highways were being built, their application to current urban transport problems is grossly inadequate. This is largely because the sustainability elements such as environmental impacts, energy consumption, road safety and social impacts are not quantified and taken into consideration as costs. The other reason, he says, to be wary of such feasibility studies is the fact that these new highways are all going to be toll expressways. The practice in awarding toll concessions has been that the government has to compensate the toll concessionaire if the traffic volumes are less than the agreed projected level. More private cars and motorcycles increases revenue, which does not take into consideration the environmental and social costs. If the traffic volumes drop (and correspondingly the social and environmental costs decline) the toll concessionaire will still be compensated from taxpayers' contributions! |
| Car worship We regard PORR with horror. Are we doomed forever to car worship? PORR reflects a modern illness which places mobility as an end in its own right; hence car focused planning. What is wanted is the so-called 'traffic calming' which will include lowered speed limits (often 30km an hour), extending pedestrian spaces (footpaths, crossings, pedestrian zones), reducing the motor vehicle space, physical devices such as speed humps, and extensive tree planting. Writers on the subject have pointed out that the last 50 years have shown that the car cannot remain the instrument of urban mobility without adversely affecting the city. Motorised vehicles are the cause of serious environmental, social and aesthetic problems. Among other things, they kill street life, foster urban sprawl, contribute to noise and air pollution, and are inefficient users of scarce energy resources. Better alternatives are available. Most European cities now have car-free areas in their centres, and everywhere these are in the process of being expanded. In fact, the completely car-free city is possible, as successful examples like Venice demonstrate. Electrically powered vehicles should be encouraged. Will Penangites like the Dutch take to the bicycle? Or will they say to their car - "Till death doth us part" ? Note: The "ring" in PORR is a misnomer. The road is in fact a miserable curve. # (Ganesh Rasagam. Those interested will find his article on Traffic in Penang in The Penang File Issue No 17 ) |
| ______ INDEX Point to the article that you want to read, and CLICK Index Page
Baba Sayings
Barbers
Clan Enclaves
Jetty Village
Luang Prabang
Nutmeg Wars
PORR Headache |
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THE PENANG STORY: Website
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| ____________________ The Penang File Issue 24 |