LRT may end up as a white elephant project — Rep

KUCHING: The proposed Light Rail Transit (LRT) would likely cause huge indebtedness for Sarawak and may end up as a ‘white elephant project’, according to Padungan assemblyman Wong King Wei.

He said construction of the LRT would be the biggest mega-project in Sarawak in recent years.

“According to reports, the cost of the LRT will be funded by the Development Bank of Sarawak (DBoS). The capital of DBoS is made up by the state government, especially from the state reserve fund.

“There is nothing wrong to use the reserve fund to fund mega projects in the state. However, when Sarawak reserve funds were injected into DBoS as capital, it would be a situation where Sarawak has to, theoretically, lend from DBoS to construct LRT. I anticipate the state will create huge indebtedness to construct LRT and other mega projects which are expected to come,” he said in a press statement yesterday.

The state Democratic Action Party Socialist Youth chairman also questioned how much the monthly operation costs would be.

“These were not contemplated by Chief Minister (Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg) in his LRT plan. For a total of 155.2km of LRT, the construction costs and operating costs are naturally not cheap.

“The interest imposed by DBoS will also be part of the operating costs. These debt-type operating costs will be passed on to light rail passengers, and the LRT fares will not be expected to be cheap,” Wong claimed.

He also claimed Abang Johari’s estimates that the project would provide nearly 21,000 jobs as ‘seemingly exhilarating, but also a huge operating cost, a worrying fact’.

Wong suggested the LRT plan be concentrated in the urban centre.

“And the construction and operating costs will naturally be much reduced,” he said, adding that 155.2km of light rail ‘is not necessary for Kuching at this stage, and it is wasteful’.

According to him, Kuala Lumpur’s first phase of LRT, which was built in the 90s, such as the Star Line was only 27.4km in length and divided into two phases.

“The population of the Klang Valley was about three million, while Kuching has just 700,000 to 800,000 population as for now. Such a large LRT project will be burdensome to the state finances, and the passengers will be required to pay expensive transport fares due to the shortage of passengers and high operating costs. It will turn the LRT into a ‘white elephant’ project,” he claimed.