Greater Penang Conurbation

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 all of Penang, and parts of the neighbouring states of Kedah and Perak, the conurbation was home to over 2.84 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 spans Seberang Perai, Sungai Petani, Kulim, Bandar Baharu, Yan, Alor Pongsu, Bagan Serai, Bukit Merah, Parit Buntar and Selama.

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 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.

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. 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.

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.

In 2021, the National Physical Plan 4 (NPP-4) provided a revised definition of the George Town Conurbation, which now includes Yan and Selama.

Definition
The George Town Conurbation spans the entirety of Penang, Kedah's southernmost municipalities of Sungai Petani, Kulim, Bandar Baharu and Yan, and towns in northern Perak, namely Alor Pongsu, Bagan Serai, Bukit Merah, Parit Buntar and Selama. This metropolitan area cumulatively covers 3758.8 km2 of the three states.

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.

Land
George Town is connected to mainland Peninsular Malaysia by two bridges. The 13.5 km Penang Bridge, completed in 1985, spans the Penang Strait between Gelugor on the island and Perai on the mainland. The 24 km 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.

Meanwhile, the only rail-based transportation system within Penang is the century-old Penang Hill Railway, a funicular railway to the peak of Penang Hill. The Penang state government has also drawn up plans to introduce urban rail throughout Penang, as part of the Penang Transport Master Plan. The 29 km Bayan Lepas LRT line, stretching between Tanjung Bungah and Bayan Lepas with an interchange station at Komtar, is being prioritised for construction. Other lines being proposed are a cross-strait light rail line linking George Town and Butterworth, a monorail line connecting the centre of George Town with Air Itam and Paya Terubong, and a tram line limited to within George Town's UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Efforts are also being undertaken to promote pedestrianisation and the use of bicycles as an environmentally friendly mode of transportation. 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.

Penang Sentral at Butterworth is the main transit hub within Penang. It is adjacent to the Sultan Abdul Halim Ferry Terminal and the Butterworth railway station, allowing it to function as a termini for public and interstate buses, ferry and train services.

Air
The Penang International Airport (PEN) at Bayan Lepas serves as the main airport for northern Malaysia, with frequent links to major regional cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bangkok, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, Taipei, Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Doha. Penang International Airport is Malaysia's second busiest in terms of cargo traffic and recorded the third highest passenger traffic of all Malaysian airports.

The airport is also a hub for two Malaysian low-cost carriers - AirAsia and Firefly. Among the international carriers that operate out of the airport are Scoot, Jetstar Asia Airways, China Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Thai Smile and Qatar Airways.

Sea
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.

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. , Swettenham Pier recorded 1.35 million tourist arrivals, thereby surpassing Port Klang as the busiest cruise shipping terminal in Malaysia. The pier also serves as a homeport for regional-based cruise ships.

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.