KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 — A consortium of private companies seeking to help build a proposed Light Rail Transit (LRT) in Johor Baru will propose to be given a 35-year concession to run the LRT line, in exchange for investing money to partly fund the project, a report has said.
In a report by financial publication The Edge, one of the consortium's companies, Ancom Nylex Berhad, said the private companies are proposing to cover some of the proposed LRT project's costs while the rest would be covered by the government via a proposed public-private partnership.
Ancom Nylex's executive director of business development Datuk Hasnul Hassan reportedly said Phase 1A of the proposed LRT project would involve an estimated RM2 billion civil construction works by the government, while the consortium will pay for the estimated RM1.5 billion systems and signalling costs of this phase.
The Edge quoted Hansul as saying the RM1.5 billion costs would cover the rolling stock (RM300 million), signalling and systems (RM800 million), developmental cost (RM200 million) and miscellaneous costs (RM200 million).
According to The Edge, the consortium is proposing for Phase 1A to use a system with 10 sets of three-carriage trains that can carry a maximum of 4,000 passengers every hour per direction, and to cover 11.3km of Johor Baru from Bukit Chagar to Danga Bay.
The Edge said Phase 1A — or to be known as the Jalan Tun Abdul Razak (JTAR) line for now — would pass through Persada International Convention Centre, Taman Dato' Onn and Taman Tasek.
Hasnul reportedly said an estimated RM35 million will be set aside to acquire private land for the LRT project, and that both the federal and Johor governments should give right of way for the project to be built.
According to The Edge, Hasnul said the consortium will put in RM800 million worth of cash and land for the LRT project and seek the remaining sum from the capital markets and advances from shareholders, with the consortium to seek a 35-year concession before the LRT line's operations are handed over to the federal government.
Hasnul proposed that the LRT fares be set at commercial rates, while targeted subsidies are given to groups such as the elderly, students, differently-abled persons and those with low income.
“Johor Baru is the only city in Malaysia where public transport can be priced at a commercial rate. Much of the city's traffic are Singaporeans, who earn at least triple [the wages] of an average Malaysian, or Malaysians who work in Singapore and are paid in Singapore dollars," he was quoted saying.
The consortium reportedly estimated around 40,000 passengers to ride the JTAR line every day.
Apart from the fares, Hasnul said cash flow from the expected building of a 10-acre transit-oriented development (TOD) near Persada with a gross development value of RM4.5 billion would be used to sustain the LRT operations, and that other TODs could also be built along the LRT line.
Malaysia and Singapore are currently building the Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link rail service, which will connect Singapore via its Woodlands North station with Malaysia via the Bukit Chagar station at Johor Baru with journey time of about five minutes for the four-kilometre distance. The project is estimated at RM10 billion.
The RTS Link, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2026 and fully operational on January 1, 2027, can carry 10,000 passengers per hour each way. It is expected to pull in 35 per cent of the 350,000 people who travel across the Johor-Singapore border daily and to help ease the current traffic congestion at the border crossing.
Ahead of the RTS's completion and operations in 2027, Hasnul reportedly said building an LRT in Johor Baru would be the best way of handling the passengers that would come in from Singapore using the RTS.
“Johor Baru needs a system that can disperse this traffic coming from Singapore every day once the RTS is fully operational. And we find that the best system to do this is an LRT,” he was quoted saying by The Edge.
He contrasted this with a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system which was previously proposed by others, saying that a BRT system would make the traffic more congested as it takes up lanes on the roads. BRT public transport systems involve dedicated lanes for buses.
The Edge cited Hasnul as saying that the consortium has given its proposal for the LRT project in Johor Baru to the federal government and the Johor state government
Previously, Malaysian listed firm Nylex (Malaysia) Berhad had on March 21, 2022 entered into a heads of agreement with Malaysian property developer LBS Bina Group Berhad, Thailand’s listed company BTS Group Holdings Limited Public Company Limited, Sinar Bina Infra Sdn Bhd and Ancom Nylex Berhad to collaborate on building an LRT system connected with the RTS with an integrated property development under the transit-oriented development concept in Johor Baru.
BTS Group Holdings is the majority shareholder of Bangkok Mass Transit System Public Company, which is the operator of Bangkok’s rail line BTS SkyTrain and the Bangkok BRT.
Last Sunday, local news outlet Oriental Daily cited a source as saying that the entire Johor LRT project is estimated to cost RM20 billion with a total length of 30km and with 50 LRT stations and said it would have at least three lines with their respective terminal stations to be located at Ikea Tebrau, at the Iskandar Puteri area (at either Legoland or Forest City), and at Senai.
The source also reportedly said both the LRT and the RTS would form a one-hour metropolitan area in the Johor Baru area and enable those in Johor and Singapore to enjoy a more convenient and fast public transport system while also changing the way they travel.
Oriental Daily also reported the source as saying that the Johor state government has made a preliminary decision on the location for the transportation hub linking the Johor LRT and RTS — which is expected to be at the Taman Tasik and Danga Bay area.
