Work on MY Rapid Transit expected to begin next year, says MRT Co

PUTRAJAYA: Construction of the Klang Valley MY Rapid Transit (KVMRT) is expected to begin in the second or third quarter of next year, MRT Co chief executive officer Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid said on Wednesday, Oct 12.

Currently, some advanced work is being done for the project, he told reporters after signing a document on the official handing over of the KVMRT project by Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad (Prasarana) to MRT Co at the office of the Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan, here.

Mohd Sidek witnessed the handing-over ceremony. Azhar represented MRT Co while Prasarana was represented by group managing director Shahril Mokhtar.

MRT Co (a Ministry of Finance Incorporated company) was approved by the Cabinet in August this year. It assumed the project and asset owner of the KVMRT project from Prasarana effective Sept 1.

Azhar said MRT Co was honoured to have been given the responsibility to work on the development of the project although the challenges, including the issue of land, were huge.

However, he said he hoped that the project would succeed, with the cooperation of Prasarana and the government, in providing Klang Valley residents with a comfortable and efficient public transport system.

He said Kuala Lumpur faced the possibility of a congestion of cars and motorcycles as well as population in the next decade and it was hoped that the KVMRT would be able to reduce or solve the issue.

Shahril said Prasarana would remain a key partner in the project and the process of consultation between the two parties would continue, with MRT Co and Prasarana giving the project the utmost attention and focus it deserved.  

The MRT was announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak during the tabling of the 10th Malaysia Plan (2011-2015) in June last year.   

The project is expected to not only increase the current inadequate rail network but also alleviate the severe traffic congestion in the Greater KL metropolitan area. — Bernama