MRCB to start work on Penang Sentral by year-end.

PENANG: Malaysian Resources Corporation Bhd (MRCB) is expected to begin work on the first phase of the integrated transportation hub at the Penang Sentral in Butterworth by the end of the year, and as soon as efforts to relocate hawkers to a new site are completed.
Its director, Datuk Ahmad Ibnihajar, said at present, more than 50 hawkers conducting business in the vicinity of the express bus station, near the Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal, had to be relocated to enable the work to begin.
He said a new hawker’s complex with more than 60 stalls had been completed and would be handed over to the Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP).
The stalls will be allocated to those hawkers who previously traded at the bus terminal complex which was razed by fire a few years ago.
“We will begin work on the hub as soon as the MPSP finishes allocating the stalls to the hawkers concerned. If the MPSP concludes this task quickly, we will expedite the work planned and the first phase is expected to be completed in 2013,” he told reporters after presenting the MRCB Student’s Leadership Excellence Award 2008 here yesterday.
Ahmad, who is also the managing director of Penang Port Sdn Bhd (PPSB), admitted that work on the project had been delayed due to the problem of relocating the hawkers who did not want to be far from the present bus station, as well as delays in taking over some parcels of land.
Apart from relocating the hawkers, he said that the present express bus operations would also be moved to the temporary bus terminal currently used by RapidPenang, by the middle of next month, to enable work to commence.
The Penang Sentral is a component of the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER), with an estimated gross development value in excess of RM2 billion, and it covers a land area of 557,418 sq metres (six million square feet).
The Penang Sentral project has four phases which integrate all land and sea services — the ferry, bus, taxi and rail. It is a joint venture between MRCB and Pelaburan Hartanah Bumiputera Bhd. — Bernama