Campaign Against Building The Penang International Convention Centre

To: The Honorable Chief Minister of Penang, YB Lim Guan Eng
02 January 2010

Petition Against the Building of the Penang International Convention Centre.

We, the Undersigned, are raising our concerns and objections to the Penang State Governments directive to Majlis Perbandaran Pulau Pinang (MPPP) to build the Penang International Convention Centre (PICC) in front of the Penang International Sports Arena (PISA). The proposed centre, covering approximately 15,000 sq m, would be built on the only remaining open green space right inside the main entrance of PISA that faces Jalan Tun Dr Awang. The projected building cost is more than RM50mil to be borne by MPPP and fast tracked to complete by 2010.
Our main points of concern and objections are as below.

Feasibility and the need of an international convention centre in Penang:

There was no feasibility study carried out to justify building the new PICC. It is questionable whether international exhibitors will be attracted to come to a RM50 mil convention centre with no hotel, auditorium and inadequate parking in congested Penang when there are much grander and better equipped convention centres in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Bangkok.
The PISA and Pesta Expo ground is currently under utilised. A new PICC will not guarantee better utilisation which will ultimately be a waste of public funds.
It is not possible for the PISA and PICC to cater for the larger crowd of tens of thousands of visitors during the major fairs like PC Fair and MATTA Fair with only 1800 available parking lots. Assuming an average car occupancy of 3 persons per car, the 1800 parking lots can only cater for 5400 visitors at any one time. There will be a spill-over of 2x to 3x in parking capacity.
There is no convincing traffic dispersal plans for the Bayan Baru-Relau-Bukit Jambul-Sungai Ara area with the increased traffic volume from the new PICC and on-going residential/commercial development in these areas.

Financial prudence:

The projected cost of the PICC was reported to be more than RM50mil. The MPPP has reported a projected budget deficit of RM40mil for fiscal year 2010. We would like to remind that the Majlis Perbandaran Seberang Perai (MPSP) was near bankrupt in 2008 after funding the RM80mil construction of its HQ in Bandar Perda.
We are concerned with the further financial implications on MPPP to meet the necessary maintenance costs for PICC.
What are the MPPPs 2010 budget allocations by categories for transport and traffic improvement, street lighting, waste disposal, better public toilets, social upgrading, heritage conservation, infrastructure and services improvement? What percentage of the total 2010 budget will be used to fund the PICC RM50mil project?
We believe that it is more appropriate for the private sector or the Penang Development Corporation to build, operate and manage the PICC, not MPPP which is already not doing a great job providing basic services to the rate payers.

Accountability and transparency:

We are concerned that there was no competition for the design and that the same architect who designed the PISA has been retained to design the PICC.
There is no justification to fast track the PICC project to be completed by 2010.
We are concerned that there appears to be no plan to manage, promote and run the PISA and the PICC.

Dear Honorable Chief Minister. In line with your CAT (competency, accountability and transparency) policy, we the Undersigned trust that our concerns and objections will be taken seriously.