Bayan Lepas LRT construction expected to start in 4Q2023

Published by The Edge Markets • 21/10/2022

The Bayan Lepas Industrial Park in Penang.

GEORGE TOWN (Oct 21): Penang expects the Bayan Lepas Light Rail Transit (LRT) project construction to begin in the fourth quarter of next year (4Q2023), subject to the federal authorities’ approval for the last segment of the line involving the location of the LRT depot on the reclaimed Penang South Islands.

State Infrastructure and Transport Committee chairman Zairil Khir Johari said the pre-qualification registration exercise of the LRT project, conducted from July 25 to Aug 19, saw 45 companies registering interest and purchasing the pre-qualification documents.

The pre-qualification exercise was to identify and pre-qualify suitable contractors to participate in the request for proposal (RFP) tender process for the engineering, procurement, construction, testing and commissioning of the LRT project’s viaducts, stations, depot, system, and other associated works, as well as the funding, operation and maintenance of the LRT system.

“By the end of the submission deadline on Oct 7, we received eight submissions from local and international consortiums. Evaluation of the submissions is currently being carried out by the technical and financial committees.

“A report will be prepared and presented to the tender committee, followed by the procurement committee. The committees will identify the qualified entities to be formally invited to participate in the RFP exercise, and the tender is expected to open in early 2023,” he said in a statement here on Friday (Oct 21).

According to him, the qualified entities will be given four months to prepare their RFP proposals for submission. Thereafter, evaluation of the proposals is expected to take three months, after which a report will be prepared for the tender and procurement committees to make the final decision.

The LRT is one of the main components of the Penang Transport Master Plan, and it is a long-term strategy to overcome the problem of traffic congestion in the state.

The Penang government’s target is to start the construction of the LRT line that connects Komtar and Bayan Lepas next year.