SBST project to cost RM45 mln per year – BBK chairman
KUCHING: The Stage Bus Services Transformation (SBST) project, set to address traffic congestion in the city, is estimated to cost RM45 million per year.
This would make the estimated cost of implementing the SBST project here over a period of five years to be RM225 million, Konsortium BBK Sdn Bhd ( BBK) chairman William Chan disclosed yesterday.
According to him, the stage bus services will commence November next year following an agreement to pave way for the implementation.
The agreement, to be sealed between the government and BBK tomorrow, is scheduled to take place at The Waterfront Hotel here.
The signing (of agreement) will be in Kuching on Wednesday (Nov 22). The orders for the buses will be placed once the agreement is signed.
The venue for the signing ceremony was confirmed by personal assistant of Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri.
“The signing ( of agreement) will be in Kuching on Wednesday ( Nov 22). The orders for the buses will be placed once the agreement is signed.
“It will take 12 months to build, so we are looking at Nov 2018 to start,” said Chan when contacted by The Borneo Post.
BBKis madeup offivecompanies; namely Bau Transport Company Sdn Bhd, Biaramas Express Sdn Bhd, City Public Link Bus Service Sdn Bhd, Petra Jaya Transport ( Sarawak) Sdn Bhd and Sarawak Transport Company Bhd.
Minister of Infrastructure Development and Transportation Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing, in his winding-up speech at the State Legislative Assembly last week, said the agreement for the SBST project should be five years plus three years.
He said the buses would be manufactured and fitted with electronic ticketing system with ‘ touch- n- go’ card compliance, onboard WiFI, global positioning system ( GPS) tracking and onboard CCTV for security.
Masing added that the SBST project would cover about 560 km, with 15 trunk routes and 12 feeder routes.
He said 130 new buses would complement the coverage from the existing coverage of 269 km while the bus frequency would range from 20 minutes to one and a half hours interval, depending on the routes served.
According to him, the fares for SBST services will be in accordance with Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (CVLB) fare structure.
He added that the ultimate goal of SBST was to reduce traffic congestion and improve the reliability and efficiency of existing bus services.
William Chan, Konsortium BBK Sdn Bhd (BBK) chairman