Published by The Edge Malaysia• 13/10/2023

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 13): The government announced on Friday that five Light Rail Transit (LRT) stations in the Klang Valley that were cancelled in 2018 will be revived at a cost of RM4.7 billion.

The five stations — Tropicana, Raja Muda, Temasya, Bukit Raja and Bandar Botanik — are on the LRT3 line, which is under construction. The line will connect the 1 Utama Shopping Centre in Bandar Utama to Johan Setia in Klang.

Reviving the five stations is expected to enhance the public transportation network in the Klang Valley and benefit two million users, said Prime Minister and Finance Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in his Budget 2024 speech.

To support the needs of the LRT3 project, Anwar said rail services owner-operator Prasarana Malaysia Bhd had agreed to acquire 150 electric buses and construct three bus depots at a cost of RM600 million.

The LRT3 project was deferred in July 2018 during the Pakatan Harapan administration led by then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

A joint venture (JV) between Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB) and George Kent (Malaysia) Bhd (GK) was initially appointed as the project delivery partner (PDP) by Prasarana for the LRT3 in September 2015, with an initial budget of RM9 billion (excluding land acquisition cost).

But in July 2018, the LRT3 project cost was reduced by about 47% to RM16.6 billion, with five of the planned 26 stations along the 37km route cancelled.

Post cost reduction, the PDP model was restructured to a fixed price contract worth RM11.9 billion, with the MRCB-GK JV as a turnkey contractor.

Later in September 2021, MRCB took over GK’s 50% stake in the JV company for RM53 million — effectively recognising 100% of the project from then onwards. The project was about 60% completed, meaning that MRCB had RM4.7 billion of billings to recognise until completion.

Penang LRT project on track

Anwar also announced that the government will proceed with the long overdue LRT project connecting Penang Island to Seberang Perai at an estimated cost of RM10 billion.

“The initial estimate for the Penang LRT to Seberang Perai, as planned by the state government, is RM10 billion under the public-private partnership method,” he said.

Penang’s first LRT, which was mooted nearly a decade ago, has been mandated to Mass Rapid Transit Corp Sdn Bhd, following the federal government’s decision to fund it in exchange for the state government reducing the scope of its Penang South Islands reclamation project.

Project developer Silicon Island Development Sdn Bhd — a 70:30 JV between Gamuda Bhd and the Penang government — is currently undertaking the reclamation works.