GEORGE TOWN: Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng today said the damaged roads in the state were the work of the utility companies conducting roadworks.
“We do not deny that there are some roads that need to be repaired. I have said before that the state government is not 100 per cent perfect, but we are prepared to react and handle the problem as soon as we receive complaints.
“But, most of the work or problems are caused generally, to a large extent, by utility companies, and they are definitely required to repair the roads as soon as possible,” he told reporters here today.
Lim has come under fire over the last few days for alleging that all of Penang’s damaged streets were federal roads.
Penang Gerakan had slammed Lim for making such claims, which it said were untrue.
State Gerakan Youth secretary Teo Yin Horng had said several state government roads were also found to be in deplorable condition.
Lim said he has ordered the state government agencies to handle any complaints on poorly-maintained roads.
“If they are any roads with potholes, the state government agencies have to act to repair it. We accept the challenge, and I have stressed to the state government agencies to accept the challenge.
“Now is not the time to deny the problems, but to overcome and handle the problem as we do not want this problem to prolong for half a year or a year,” he said.
Lim, however, claimed that the roads under the federal government’s jurisdiction were in the worst condition.
“If (we) compare the federal roads and state roads, we can see a very obvious difference, including cleanliness.
“For example, if you head towards Chung Ling High School, before reaching the school, you can see the road is in good condition, but the condition of the road is bad after (you pass by) the school.
“This is because that part of the road is under the federal government,” he said.
Lim also said the state government could not repair federal roads.
“We can only repair state government roads and we cannot touch federal roads. This is something many do not understand.
“According to the law, we cannot touch the federal roads, and as a state government that upholds the law, we have to follow the rule of law,” he said.
He said the state government could only channel its complaints to the federal agencies.
“But if there are problems with state roads, the state government is ready to take up the challenge. We also want to make sure that the state agencies do their work to shorten the reaction timeframe.
“I did not say there are no potholes at all but we will react fast,” he said, adding that roads with no names were not under their purview and that they were constructed by members of the public.