MARAN, Aug 25 — Construction of the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project has achieved 48.77 per cent progress, said Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd (MRL) chairman Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali.

The Chief Secretary to the Government said the work progress was in line with the development of the project from Kota Baru, in Kelantan, to the Gombak Integrated Terminal, Selangor, which is scheduled for completion in December 2026 to enable the ECRL service to operate in January 2027.

"The encouraging rate of progress for this project is not only focused on infrastructure works and the construction of the mega project but also the involvement of local companies in the implementation of ECRL.

"This project involves the participation of about 2,700 local companies consisting of contractors, consultants and suppliers from 2017 to the first quarter of this year.

"The contract value involving the local companies in the ECRL project work has reached about RM12 billion, surpassing the target of RM10.8 billion for civil works in the project,” he said when speaking at the ECRL’s tunnel breakthrough at Kampung Gedung Siam 3 here today.

On the involvement of Bumiputera contractors, he said, it involved a contract value of RM2.3 billion or 66 per cent of the target of RM3.5 billion for ECRL civil works.

He said construction work of the national transport project was being actively carried out by more than 21,000 workers at more than 1,600 work sites along the line.

On the tunnel construction in Kampung Gedung Siam 3, stretching 1.32 kilometres and scheduled for completion in April next year, 2024, he said the work progress went according to schedule.

The tunnel, with an average height of 13.47 metres and a width of 13.02 metres, needs to be built to allow the ECRL railway line to meet the maximum gradient of 0.74 per cent and to avoid open felling in the village area.

To date, the dredging works of 25 of the 40 tunnels in the ECRL construction have been carried out, including 21 tunnels in Section A (involving Kota Bharu - Dungun) and Section B (Dungun - Mentakab) and four in Section C (Mentakab - Port Klang), he added.

He said the installation of long-span bridges for five locations on the ECRL Section A and Section B has been fully implemented.

The ECRL project involves the construction of a new railway line spanning approximately 665 kilometres from Kota Bharu in Kelantan (on the east coast) to the Klang Valley on the west coast. — Bernama