PUTRAJAYA, March 29 — Transport Minister Anthony Loke today said that the Cabinet meeting last Friday has agreed to approve the development proposal for the Penang Mutiara LRT Line project.
He said that the construction for the project is set to commence this year.
“The overall implementation of the project is expected to take approximately six years and is targeted to be operational by the year 2030,” he said during a press conference here today.
He also added that the government has appointed MRT Corp as the project developer and asset owner.
He said the project would be divided into three main components which are the contract for civil construction works for Segment 1, which is the Silicon Island Alignment to Komtar, the contract for civil construction works for Segment 2, which is the alignment from Komtar to Penang Sentral through an open tender and the turnkey contract for system works and rolling stocks through Build-Maintain-Transfer (BMT) via an open tender.
“SRS Consortium Sdn Bhd (SRS) will be offered this contract through the Single-Sourcing Request for Proposal mechanism.
“This offer is based on the request of the Penang state government, which appointed SRS as the Project Delivery Partner for the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP), including the Mutiara LRT Line, through an open tender in August 2015,” he said.
He said SRS has also conducted preliminary technical studies and designs, in addition to obtaining approval for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Social Impact Assessment (SIA), and Conditional Rail Scheme.
He explained that the value of the contract and detailed information related to it are subject to negotiations between MRT Corp and SRS, which are to be finalised within 6 months.
“However, we are not able to come up with any exact figures as we will negotiate with the relevant parties first before we can disclose any figures,” he added.
Loke also said the construction of the rolling stock operations depot will be planned and developed in conjunction with the Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) integrated development project at the Pesta Site, Sungai Nibong, through a collaboration between MRT Corp and the Penang state government.
He said the new strategy aims to generate additional non-fare revenue crucial for reinvestment in the maintenance of the Penang LRT in the future.
With this decision by the cabinet, Loke said the federal government officially takes over the Penang Mutiara LRT Line Project from the Penang state government.
“The government will consider suitable project financing methods, either through development allocation or other appropriate means,” he said.
Loke said the Mutiara LRT Line will stretch from Silicon Island to Komtar and then cross over to Penang Sentral in Seberang Perai to connect with the existing KTM Komuter and ETS train networks.
“The line is estimated to be approximately 29 km long with 20 stations, including 2 interchange stations at Komtar Station and Penang Sentral Station,” he said.
