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Transforming George Town and Butterworth’s waterfronts into a new economic zone

View of the George Town waterfront from the Chew Clan Jetty/ image by EQRoy/Shutterstock

Kuala Lumpur 14 December 2020 – The Penang State Government announced that 36 finalists have been selected in the Penang Bay International Ideas Competition. Entries are judged by a technical committee comprising representatives from CMI (Construction Material Industry Sdn Bhd), Think City, MBPP (Penang Island City Council), MBSP (Seberang Perai City Council), PLANMalaysia, World Bank, Cendana and Reimagining City. The diverse backgrounds and perspectives from the committee members have provided a fair and balanced collective assessment in the selection of finalists.

Open to innovative thinkers of all disciplines, the competition received a total submission of 79 entries from 20 countries globally.

A seven-member jury—comprising distinguished judges from the Penang State officials, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, UN Habitat, Global Development Incubator and the Malaysian Institute of Planners, and an independent landscape architect—will proceed to select the top three winners and five honourable mentions.

The ultimate vision for Penang Bay is to transform the George Town and Butterworth waterfronts into an SDG Cities Compliant Zone powered by Green, digital and creative industries. The aim is to have Penang Bay listed as an SDG Cities Zone to unlock opportunities and scale up the initiative. The competition is an opportunity to build on these ideas and connect with local and international innovators and thinkers.

The awards for first, second and third places are US$20,000, US$8,000 and US$4,000 respectively. Honourable mentions will receive US$1,000 each. A new People’s Favourite award has also been introduced to select the submission with the highest number of public votes. A virtual exhibition will be made available to the public, in order for them to view and vote for their favourite submissions on the competition website.

Source: Think City