ICONIC PENANG FERRIES TO BE TOWED TO SPCT TOMORROW

BUTTERWORTH, Oct 2 (Bernama) -- The iconic Penang ferries which are currently being renovated to become the Penang Ferry Floating Museum will be towed from Bagan Dalam Slipway to Swettenham Pier Cruise Terminal (SPCT), tomorrow.

Penang Ferry Museum curator Siti Faridah Hani Damsi said the ferries which have partially sunk in Bagan Dalam, near here in 2021 are being actively restored to become a museum by Syarikat Printhero Merchandise Sdn Bhd.

"The ferries will be towed at 12:30 pm tomorrow and is expected to arrive at KTMB Swing Bridge around 1 pm before stopping to wait for the next bridge to open at 1.10 pm, the towed ferries will be anchored temporarily at SPCT.

"The major repair works on the ferries are now 60 to 70 per cent completed, so it has been towed to SPCT to complete the repair work before being placed at Tanjung City Marina," he said in a statement today.

He said the iconic ferries indeed played an important role in the history of Penang's ferry service.

Siti Faridah Hani said members of the public are invited to witness the historic moment as the last ferry crosses the KTMB Swing Bridge following the closure of the Bagan Dalam Slipway and record the last moments of the iconic ferries traversing the Penang Strait.

Earlier, Bernama reported that Penang's iconic ferries, which have been turned into a floating ferry museum, will operate at the end of this year and that the renovation process has reached 90 per cent.

Chairman of the Penang Port Commission (SPPP) Datuk Yeoh Soon Hin reportedly said the iconic ferries will be parked at Tanjung City Marina, George Town for the public to visit and that the repair and renovation work will be carried out by a qualified private company at a cost of millions of ringgit.

-- BERNAMA