The Greater Penang Conurbation, also known as the George Town Conurbation, is the built-up urban or metropolitan area within and around the Malaysian state of Penang. Encompassing the entire State of Penang, and parts of the neighbouring states of Kedah and Perak, the conurbation was home to over 2.83 million people , the second largest in the country after the Klang Valley.
As the capital city of Penang, George Town also forms the core city of the conurbation, which covers an area of 3,961 km2. The metropolitan area includes Seberang Perai, the towns of Sungai Petani, Kulim and Bandar Baharu in Kedah, and Kerian in Perak.
History
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. 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 drafted 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 to four major metropolitan areas in Peninsular Malaysia. The National Physical Plan 2 (NPP-2), endorsed in 2010, gave an official definition to the George Town Conurbation, stretching from Sungai Petani in the north to Kerian, Perak in the south.
In 2011, the then Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Razak, announced plans to intensify infrastructure investment in Penang as part of a 'Greater Penang Masterplan'. 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. 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.
Definition
The George Town Conurbation comprises the entirety of Penang, Kedah's southernmost towns of Sungai Petani, Kulim and Bandar Baharu, and Kerian in Perak, covering an area of 3,961 km2.
Population by local government area
The population table is based on the official census of 2020 for the local government areas within the George Town Conurbation.
Transportation
Land
George Town is connected to mainland Peninsular Malaysia by two bridges. The Penang Bridge, completed in 1985, spans the Penang Strait between Gelugor on the island and Perai on the mainland. The long Second Penang Bridge was opened in 2014, linking Batu Maung on the island to Batu Kawan on the mainland.
Both the North–South Expressway and the Malayan Railway's West Coast Line provide direct overland connection between Sungai Petani, Seberang Perai, Bandar Baharu, Kerian and the west coast of the peninsula, while Kulim and its Hi-Tech Park are accessible from Seberang Perai via the Butterworth–Kulim Expressway.
Within George Town itself, the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway is a vital coastal highway that runs along the island's eastern seaboard, connecting the city centre with the Penang Bridge, the Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone, the Penang International Airport and the Second Penang Bridge. The Federal Route 6 is a pan-island trunk road, while the two major ring roads in the city are the George Town Inner Ring Road and the Penang Middle Ring Road.
Public transportation
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.