An LRT for Ipoh???? (Update#1)

Updated with links to Majlis Bandaraya Ipoh website!

Recently, TRANSIT took note of this article which discussed a proposal for an LRT line to be constructed in Ipoh. We sort of “laughed it off” thinking that it could not be a serious proposal – given that Ipoh has a old, unreliable “system” of rattle-trap buses. But then this is Malaysia so who knows.

Cadangan bina LRT di Ipoh (Utusan)
Oleh AMIZUL TUNIZAR AHMAD TERMIZI
utusanperak@utusan.com.my

IPOH 23 Julai – Penduduk bandar raya ini mungkin berpeluang menikmati perkhidmatan transit aliran ringan (LRT) seperti yang terdapat di Kuala Lumpur menjelang 2020 sekiranya cadangan mengenainya yang dimasukkan dalam Draf Rancangan Tempatan Ipoh 2020 menjadi kenyataan.

Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Kesihatan, Kerajaan Tempatan, Hal Ehwal Pengguna, Alam Sekitar, Pengangkutan dan Hal Ehwal Bukan Islam negeri, Datuk Dr. Mah Hang Soon berkata, mengikut cadangan, perkhidmatan LRT itu bakal menghubungkan Meru Raya dan Menglembu dengan pusat bandar raya.

Katanya, Station 18 di Pengkalan, Simpang Pulai dan Tanjung Rambutan merupakan antara lokasi lain yang dicadangkan untuk diwujudkan stesen LRT.

”Draf berkenaan kini dipamerkan di lobi Majlis Bandaraya Ipoh (MBI) serta Jabatan Perancangan Bandar dan Desa Perak bermula hari ini hingga 22 Ogos dari pukul 9 pagi hingga 4 petang setiap hari.

”Kami menggalakkan orang ramai untuk datang melihat dan memberikan maklum balas, cadangan atau bantahan mengenai Draf Rancangan Tempatan Ipoh 2020 supaya ia memenuhi kehendak mereka apabila diluluskan oleh kerajaan kelak,” katanya.

Beliau menyatakan demikian kepada pemberita selepas melancarkan Program Seranta dan Penyertaan Awam Draf Rancangan Tempatan Ipoh 2020 yang turut dihadiri Datuk Bandar Ipoh, Datuk Roshidi Hashim di sini hari ini.

Draf tersebut disediakan sejak 2007 dengan Kerajaan Persekutuan dan kerajaan negeri masing-masing menyediakan peruntukan sebanyak RM1.2 juta dan RM212,000 bagi tujuan tersebut.

Mengulas lanjut, Hang Soon yang juga Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri (ADUN) Chenderiang berkata, pihaknya akan mengadakan siri jelajah untuk menunjukkan draf tersebut kepada warga bandar raya ini.

‘‘Orang ramai juga boleh melihat draf ini dengan mengakses laman web MBI di http://www.mbi.gov.my,” tambah beliau.

Beliau berkata, selain mewujudkan perkhidmatan LRT, cadangan pembinaan sebuah pusat pelupusan sampah seluas 224 hektar di Papan, dekat sini turut terdapat dalam draf berkenaan.

Untuk maklumat lanjut, warga kota boleh menghubungi Unit Perancangan Bandar MBI di talian 05-2083333 dan Jabatan Perancangan Bandar dan Desa di talian 05-5225780.

TRANSIT Says:

For further information or to file objections, please visit the following links:

• Executive Summary of Ipoh Draft Plan 2020 (BM) – see Page 11 – “Teras 1: Perbandaran dan Sumber Jaya Mampan” (page 13 on the .pdf document) and “Page 29 – Teras 3: Perhubungan dan Kemudahsampian Yang Efisien” (page 31 of the .pdf document)
• Video on Ipoh Draft Plan 2020
• Objection Form

Now, a look at the LRT proposal shows that the planners are looking into Transport Oriented Development (TOD) around the main stations and they have proposed two integrated transport terminals in Ipoh and Bandar Meru Raya. Unfortunately the Executive Summary gives no information about the justification for LRT – projected passenger demand, projected capacity, number of people who need to be moved, etc. – as opposed to another mode of rapid transit.

Just to show you why we are now a bit concerned, though… TRANSIT took note of this article in the Star newspaper today, in which a Gerakan representative comments on a proposal for an LRT line that is part of the Ipoh Draft Local Plan 2020 – the representative (like most people, we suppose) does not question the wisdom of spending money to build an LRT in a place that has no reliable, stable public transport network, but merely recommends that the planners figure out where the city centre is first.

Identify city centre first, says Gerakan (The Star)
Thursday August 19, 2010

IPOH: The state government must first identify where exactly the city centre is before implementing a light rail transit (LRT) service.

Perak Gerakan secretary See Tean Seng said the LRT service, proposed in the Ipoh Draft Local Plan 2020, lacked focus as the Ipoh City Council’s Town and Country Planning Department had failed to identify where Ipoh Central was.

TRANSIT: Er…who cares? We are surprised that See has questioned about the city centre (which is actually defined clearly in the draft plan) when he should be asking whether there is enough demand to justify the cost of LRT construction at RM250 million per km! Besides, we all know “Ipoh Sentral” would be at the Medan Kidd/Ipoh railway station. After all, no one would build a completely new railway station in the middle of a vibrant neighbourhood in the hope it would be successful — would they?

It was impossible, he said, to come up with any proposals before first deciding where the city centre was.

TRANSIT: How about deciding whether there is enough return to justify the investment?

In our opinion, the main business centre is now Greentown,” See told reporters here yesterday.

According to the draft plan, which is being displayed for public viewing until Sunday, the proposed LRT service would connect the city centre with Meru Raya, Menglembu, Station 18 in Pengkalan, Simpang Pulai and Tanjung Rambutan.

TRANSIT Says:

If you are an Ipoh resident, please plan your weekend around a viewing of the Draft Local Plan (can we assume that you have not done this already?) and do not forget to file your feedback/objections in the Objection Form. Public transport in Ipoh needs a lot more attention (especially in light of the arrival of the ETS service) but an LRT is not the solution that Ipoh needs (yet).

If you are interested though, check out TRANSIT’s proposal for transit corridors in the greater Ipoh area – and tell us where you think the public transport corridors would go (ideally) in Ipoh.

And just so you know, Ipoh’s main railway station and Medan Kidd bus terminal are going to be the “Ipoh Sentral” … but why stop there. There will be an Integrated Transport Terminal in Meru Raya and many developments projected for future LRT stations.

Maybe, if planned properly and appropriately, a new “rapid transit” system would bring life and economic activity back to Ipoh.