The Penang state government will put a six-acre parcel on Gurney Drive up for public auction on 7 October, with the proceeds used to help finish the long-delayed Air Itam bypass. The site, known as Plot 7A in Tanjung Pinang, lies on Jalan Peter Paul Dason, the road linking Gurney Drive with Andaman Island. The state gazette sets the auction at 11am at Komtar, with a reserve price of RM1,200 psf, while sources cited by The Edge Malaysia expect the sale to raise more than RM300 million.
Adjacent vacant land already fetches more than RM1,000 psf on the open market, and the plot carries a total reserve price of RM313.632 million, The Rakyat Post noted. The sale follows a request from the concessionaire, Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd (CZC), for the state to monetise the parcel and generate cash flow for the remaining works.
The bypass, Package Two of Penang’s undersea tunnel and paired roads project, is valued at RM851 million. The 6km route will connect Lebuhraya Thean Teik in Farlim with the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway through elevated viaducts, tunnels and ground-level roads. Construction started in February 2021 and was originally scheduled to finish in 2025.
Two extensions of time have since pushed the deadline. The first, granted in 2023 after land acquisition affected stretches of the alignment, moved completion to 31 October this year. The second, approved in the middle of last year, set the new date at 12 April 2027.
State Infrastructure, Transport and Digital Committee chairman Zairil Khir Johari said the bypass had reached 92.46% completion as at 31 August, while financial progress stood at 81.69%. Profits from the auction will be shared between the state government and CZC. Paya Terubong assemblyman Wong Hon Wai separately put the project at 91% completion and said the contractor had assured him of the April 2027 schedule, though he added that progress at one end remained unsatisfactory and state intervention was needed.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow addressed the delays in May, rejecting suggestions that the project had been dragging since 2012. He said the contract was awarded only in 2020, with physical works starting in 2021, and confirmed that financial difficulties at the concessionaire had slowed progress. “Covid-19 has already passed. We cannot continue using the same excuse,” he said.
CZC was selected through open tender in 2013 to build the tunnel and three main bypass roads. The consortium is a joint venture between Beijing Urban Construction Group and local firm Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd. Instead of collecting tolls, the company received exclusive development rights over about 45ha at Gurney Bay in an infrastructure-for-land arrangement. Under that model, CZC has claimed RM695.977 million in land value for completed works, of which RM427.657 million has been transferred, leaving RM225.768 million outstanding.
