Rapid Penang denies threatening state govt

Rapid Penang is not trying to threaten the state government as reported by local dailies on Tuesday, said chief executive officer Azhar Ahmad on Wednesday.
He said there was no plan to send its 200 buses, due to arrive in batches in May, to RapidKL.
"We do not mean to take away those buses bought by the Ministry of Finance Inc, but if there are not enough depots to accommodate the vehicles, we will have to lend them to RapidKL for use while we look for a new depot," added Azhar.
He was speaking to reporters after visiting the Weld Quay and Sungai Nibong depot, while accompanied by state local government and traffic management committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow here.
He denied a newspaper report on March 7 that Rapid Penang had threatened the state government with its plan to send the 200 buses to RapidKL if it did not get the five sites it wanted to house the buses.
However, Azhar urged the relevant authorities to grant the company a long-term lease so that it could improve the infrastructure at the existing four depots.
"Currently, Rapid Penang has four depots for buses, with one each in Tanjung Bungah, Balik Pulau and Lorong Kulit and belonging to the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP), and the other in Sungai Nibong, owned by the state government," he said.
Meanwhile, Chow said the state government had identified three new sites in the island, as well as mainland, to set up bus depots and expand the current Sungai Nibong depot.
He said the three sites were in Weld Quay, Butterworth and Nibong Tebal, while negotiations were underway for another two in Kepala Batas and Bukit Mertajam.
Chow noted that the tenancy issues of the current depots and the new depot were the main issues faced by Rapid Penang.
Rapid Penang, a subsidiary of RapidKL, is 100 per cent owned by the Ministry of Finance Inc. Its current fleet of 150 buses handles 60 per cent of the bus services in Penang.- Bernama