SLASHED SCRAPPED?
Final cost at RM16.6 billion, integrity of 37km line maintained, says Guan Eng
LRT3 to proceed at roughly half the original cost of RM31.65 billion.
COST REDUCED BY 47 PER CENT, OR A SAVINGS OF RM15.02 BILLION
INITIAL ORDER OF 42 SETS OF SIX-CAR TRAINS REDUCED TO 22 SETS OF THREE-CAR TRAINS
SIZE OF THE LRT TRAIN DEPOT ALSO REDUCED
GOVT will decide on the fate of 4 IPP projects awarded by previous government next week.
ENERGY MINISTER: GOVT WILL LOOK AT IMPROVING COMPETITIVENESS IN THE POWER INDUSTRY
GOVT ALLOCATING RM114m TO SUBSIDISE SURCHARGE FOR 81.7 PER CENT OF DOMESTIC USERS FROM JULY TO DECEMBER
MINISTER MULLS USING BALANCE OF RM646m FROM FUND TO EITHER SUBSIDISE COMMERCIAL, OR DOMESTIC USERS
THE cabinet on Wednesday approved the continuation of the LRT3 project at a final cost of RM16.63 billion. Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng announced this yesterday, saying that the cost of the third light rail transit in the Klang Valley was reduced by 47 per cent from RM31.65 billion, saving the country RM15.02 billion.
“This (is inclusive of) all project costs, including, but not limited to Work Package Contracts (WPC), land acquisition, project management, consultancy fees, operational and overhead costs, as well as interest during construction,” said Lim in a statement.
On March 30, he said, Prasarana Malaysia Bhd had submitted the latest projected cost for the project, which amounted to RM31.65 billion.
“At the same time, Prasarana sought additional financing of RM22 billion in the form of government guarantees, on top of the initial RM10 billion granted in 2015 to finance the project.”
He said the 37km-long line aimed to alleviate traffic congestion along one of the most important and densely-populated economic development corridors in the Klang Valley, which is from Klang to Petaling Jaya.
LRT3 is expected to serve an area with a population of two million people, transporting 36,700 passengers per hour each way.
Lim said a thorough renegotiation and rationalisation exercise of the project was undertaken, with key stakeholders, including Prasarana, project delivery partner MRCB-George Kent joint venture and the Land Public Transportation Commission.
“One critical criterion for the review was that the integrity of the 37km LRT3 line — from Johan Setia (Klang) to Bandar Utama (Petaling Jaya) — had to be maintained.
“In addition, the safety, frequency and quality of service had to meet the requirements of the regulators.”
Among steps taken to reduce and rationalise the cost of the project was the reduction of an order of 42 sets of six-car trains to 22 sets of three-car trains.
“Based on the feasibility study of the LRT3 project, 22 sets of three-car trains are more than enough to cope with the anticipated passenger demand until 2035, before additional three-car trains need to be ordered.
“(This also reduced) the size of the LRT train depot (required).
“(Another step was) streamlining the size and design of LRT3 stations based on the Kelana Jaya LRT line, instead of the much larger MRT stations.”