Only the ‘wealthy few’ will benefit from MRT

Only the developers and a few well connected people stand to gain from the billion ringgit My Rapid Transit system, says a university don.

KUALA LUMPUR: It is touted as Malaysia’s largest infrastructure. But, in fact what the My Rapid Transit (MRT) is giving the residents who live along its route is a sense of dread.

The residents of Chinatown are dead against it and an academic says the project will only benefit a select few, especially the “wealthy parties.”

UCSI University lecturer Teoh Chee Keong said that only developers and “wealthy” parties stood to gain from the billion-ringgit development.

“The MRT will boost the economy because the value of the property (around the stations) will increase. But will the lower-income people benefit?”

“They (the government) are acquiring all this (land) because of the rail-plus-property model. They want to acquire it because the land price will go up,and they increase their revenue,” he told FMT.

Teoh is from the faculty of architecture and is well versed with the history and development of Chinatown

Thirty-four property lots in Chinatown are being eyed by the MRT developers, which may fall into their hands through land acquisition.

Like many others affected by the MRT, residents and business owners here are concerned that their properties may be demolished to make way for the track alignment, which has been scheduled for underground tunneling.

Many have reasons to fear, especially with the Land Public Transport Commission -t he project’s facilitators – are unable to guarantee any return for these owners to their land during, and after, the tunnel’s construction period.

Document requests for property valuation have also worried them, and some owners have compared the last-minute acquisition to a land grab.

Problematic location

The UCSI University lecturer also scoffed at another of the MRT’s supposed advantages: job creation.

“The MRT will create more work opportunities, but (after they are done), they will build shopping malls here. Aside from shopping mall jobs, what kind of jobs can you get in this area?” he asked.

This led Teoh to conclude that job opportunities in the area would be given to foreign workers.

Malaysia is heavily reliant on migrants for low-paying jobs, despite promises by the Human Resources Ministry to cut the country’s 3.6 million foreign worker to 1.5 million by 2015.

Teoh said that the city’s transportation problem would not be fixed by the Sungai Buloh-Kajang MRT line.

“(There are parts) of KL which are always jammed, but is the MRT going to cover this area? They (the government) are just going to cover the areas where there is (a) high property value,” he said.

“This is not going to solve the transportation problem.”

He then used Plaza Rakyat as an example, adding that the now-abandoned construction site could have been a better fit for a MRT station, as opposed to building one in the middle of Chinatown.

“Why not take this one?” he asked, referring to Plaza Rakyat and pointed that it was right next to the Puduraya (now Pudu Sentral) bus station.

“The road is already there. Then you can continue (the MRT track) near the Tung Shin hospital and go to Bukit Bintang.”

Jalan Pudu is one of the city’s more congested main roads, with Puduraya-bound express buses and cars clogging up the area.

“Let’s say I want to take the MRT after I get to KL, after I come in from Penang (to Puduraya), how would I take the MRT?” Teoh asked, using the current track alignment as an example.

“You would have to walk (less than 1km) to the Pasar Seni station, or use the (RapidKL) line (from Plaza Rakyat) to go to Masjid Jamek,” he said.

Tunnel fiasco

Teoh also added that it was strange for the government to claim difficulties in building the underground tunnels beneath Jalan Sultan.

He then pointed to the London Underground and Budapest Metro transit systems, two of the world’s oldest underground railways, opened in 1862 and 1896 respectively.

He asked why it was difficult for the MRT’s proponents to build underground tunnels with above buildings standing, when it was done more than a century ago.

Looking closer to home, he also brought up the Avenue K shopping mall, which was right next to the Petronas Twin Towers.

The current Kelana Jaya RapidKL LRT line also runs directly beneath the complex, Teoh said, but it did not have to be demolished for the LRT.

“They (the MRT’s proponents) can do it. We already have it in Malaysia. The geotechnical problem can be solved… (but) if it really cannot be solved, then you have to reconsider the realignment of the track,” he said.