Selangor wants say in KL MRT plans

Khalid said the MRT was one way to encourage public transport use. — file pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 13 — Selangor has expressed support for the RM36.6 billion Kuala Lumpur Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project and wants to be involved in the planning process.

Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim told The Malaysian Insider that he will select a state executive councillors to be a part of the planning process mega project.

“We are going to assign one of our exco to attend the planning and how it is going to be done,” he said.

Khalid stressed that there was an urgent need to reduce the dependence on private transportation.

“MRT is one of the answers ... The state of Selangor support the idea of enhancing public transport system,” he said.

The MRT is an entry-point project identified for the Greater Kuala Lumpur/Klang Valley National Key Economic Area under the Economic Transformation Programme.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said last December that the implementation of the project is expected to generate a gross national income (GNI) of between RM3 billion and RM4 billion beginning in 2011 until 2020.

He had said that between RM8 billion and RM12 billion was expected to be generated in terms of spin-offs from the construction of the MRT project.

Earlier today, The Malaysian Insider reported a local research group claiming that the RM36.6 billion MRT project is based on outdated transport data and could cost commuters RM403.5 million in added fuel expenses within its first five years of operations.

Association of Water and Energy Research (Awer) president S. Piarapakaran claimed the extra burden on commuters would arise from a lack of good supporting infrastructure to ferry commuters from their homes to the stations.

When asked for comment, the mentri besar said it was still too early to criticise the project as a lot of the details were still being worked out.

“Whatever it is, this capital investment must be done so that it will be easier for people to travel and of course at a lower cost,” he said.

According to the Klang Valley MRT website, the ambitious project will have 35 stations along its 51km line that stretches from Sungai Buloh to Kajang, with 13 proposed park-and-ride stations and four interchanges.

Eight of the stations will be underground as 9.5km of the line will be built under the capital city.

Groundworks for the MRT is due to start this July 16 and will be completed in 2016.

The first phase of the project, the Sungai Buloh-Kajang line, is expected to carry 400,000 passengers daily when it begins before snowballing to some 2.5 million in 2020. - Malaysian Insider