The Greater Penang Conurbation, also known as the George Town Conurbation,[1][2][3] is the built-up urban or metropolitan area within and around the Malaysian state of Penang. Encompassing all of Penang, and parts of the neighbouring states of Kedah and Perak, the conurbation was home to over 2.84 million people as of 2020[update], the second largest in the country after the Klang Valley.
Originally founded as an entrepôt, George Town's diversified economy is powered by the twin major sectors of manufacturing and services. Penang's path to industrialisation began in the 1970s with the establishment of free industrial zones at Bayan Lepas and Perai. As Penang's industries rapidly scaled up the value chain, the border towns in neighbouring Kedah, specifically Sungai Petani and Kulim, also started to witness economic spillover resulting from agglomeration effects and the rise in the standard of living within the former.[5] In 1996, the Kulim Hi-Tech Park was opened as an extension of Penang's electronics manufacturing industry.
However, interstate coordination in urban development was lacking, causing development policies to be disjointed while an urban sprawl radiated out of Penang's borders into Kedah and Perak. In the early 2000s, the Malaysian federal government began drafting the National Urbanisation Policy (NUP) and the National Physical Plan (NPP), in which the concept of a George Town Conurbation was borne out of the desire by policy planners to decentralise urban development in Peninsular Malaysia to four major metropolitan areas.[6][7]
In the first NUP, formulated in 2006, the George Town Conurbation was defined as spanning all of Penang, Sungai Petani, Kulim, Parit Buntar and Bagan Serai.[8] The National Physical Plan 2 (NPP-2), endorsed in 2010, demarcated the George Town Conurbation as stretching from Sungai Petani in the north to Kerian in the south.[7]
In 2011, the then Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Razak, announced plans to intensify infrastructure investment in Penang as part of a 'Greater Penang Masterplan'.[9] The strained federal-state ties following the 2013 general election led the Barisan Nasional-controlled federal government to slash development expenditures in Penang, then an opposition state held by the Pakatan Rakyat coalition.[10] This state of affairs continued until the 2018 general election, which saw the first regime change in Malaysian history that resulted in both the federal and the Penang state governments being helmed by the same coalition for the first time since 2008.
In 2021, the National Physical Plan 4 (NPP-4) provided a revised definition of the George Town Conurbation, which now includes Yan and Selama.[4]
Penang Sentral serves as the main public transport hub within PenangA Rapid Penang double-decker. Rapid Penang is the sole public bus operator within the conurbation.
Public bus services are mainly provided by Rapid Penang, which operates 56 routes within the conurbation, including interstate routes into Kedah and Perak. Among the routes are free-of-charge transit services such as the Central Area Transit, the Congestion Alleviation Transport and the Pulau Tikus Loop.[12]
Efforts are also being undertaken to promote pedestrianisation and the use of bicycles as an environmentally friendly mode of transportation.[21][22] Dedicated cycling lanes have been paved throughout the city and in 2016, George Town became the first Malaysian city to operate a public bicycle-sharing service, with the inauguration of LinkBike.[23][24][25]
The Port of Penang, the main harbour in northern Malaysia, is operated by the Penang Port Commission. The Port consists of seven facilities, with six of them in Butterworth and Perai, including the North Butterworth Container Terminal, Butterworth Deep Water Wharves and the Prai Bulk Cargo Terminal. The Port of Penang, the third busiest seaport in Malaysia, handled more than 1.52 million TEUs of cargo in 2017.[28]
Meanwhile, Swettenham Pier, situated in the heart of George Town, is the sole Port facility on Penang Island. The pier now accommodates cruise ships, making it one of the major entry points into Penang. As of 2017[update], Swettenham Pier recorded 1.35 million tourist arrivals, thereby surpassing Port Klang as the busiest cruise shipping terminal in Malaysia.[29][30][31] The pier also serves as a homeport for regional-based cruise ships.[29]
The cross-strait Penang ferry service connects George Town and Butterworth, and was formerly the only transportation link between Penang Island and the mainland until the completion of the Penang Bridge in 1985.
Penang
Perak
.jpg)
