Prasarana, SMRT to form joint-venture company

KUALA LUMPUR: Prasarana Malaysia Bhd and SMRT Corp Ltd (SMRT) will now proceed with forming a joint-venture (JV) company to operate the Johor Baru-Singapore Rapid Transit System Link (RTS Link).

This follows the companies’ acceptance of a letter of offer jointly issued by Malaysia’s Prime Minister’s Department and Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) yesterday.

The signing of the letter confirms Prasarana’s and SMRT’s commitment to forming the JV company and their acceptance of its terms and conditions

The JV company will design, build, finance, operate, maintain and renew the RTS Link operating assets such as trains, tracks and systems. The link is expected to commence passenger service by 2024.

The letter of offer underscores the Prime Minister Department’s and LTA’s commitment towards granting a concession to the JV company to be the RTS Link operator, subject to the latter meeting the stipulated milestones and terms and conditions.

This followed the signing of the RTS Link bilateral agreement between Singapore and Malaysia at the 8th Singapore-Malaysia Leaders’ Retreat on January 16, as well as a memorandum of understanding between Prasarana and SMRT in September last year, said the companies in a statement yesterday.

Upon accepting the offer, the JV partners will work towards executing a joint-venture agreement and incorporating a JV company before June 30 this year.

The concession agreement, which sets out the detailed terms of the first concession period of 30 years, is expected to be signed by September 30.

The RTS Link is a strategic project by Malaysia and Singapore, aimed at enhancing cross-border connectivity between both countries.

The link can carry up to 10,000 passengers per hour per direction.