Najib blames Dr M for M'sia's public transport woes

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today took a swipe at his predecessor Dr Mahathir Mohamad, whom he accused of neglecting to develop the country's public transport system during his 22-year rule.

In launching the full service for LRT Kelana Jaya and Ampang extension projects, Najib said the idea was mooted in 2009 after a series of brainstorming sessions with Performance Management Unit (Pemandu).

"This (the problem) was because my predecessor, who ruled for 22 years, did not pay much attention to public transport.

"Because of this, there was a vacuum. There was under-investment and there was an uncoordinated system owned by too many parties," Najib said in his speech during the launch event at the Putra Heights LRT station.

He also said traffic congestion in the areas were caused by the public transport system in Klang Valley at the time, which was unable to meet demands from a growing urban city.

"Therefore, under the National Key Results Area we have set public transport as a high priority.

"Today we are all witnesses to the current government's success in executing the project. We have delivered to the people," said Najib.

The Putra Heights station is one out of 12 new stations on the Kelana Jaya line.

The station will also connect the Kelana Jaya line to the Ampang/Sri Petaling line, with 11 new stations.

With opening of the new stations, Najib said he expected the project to benefit millions of new commuters living around the Klang Valley.

Just along the 17.4km extended Kelana Jaya line, there are some two million commuters around the areas, including Subang Jaya, USJ, Glenmarie and Putra Heights.

Commending project owner Prasarana Malaysia Bhd for completing the project, Najib said that the company had gone through three chief executive officers.

"CEOs can change but the government cannot change. That is important.

"This is the message so you all should understand," he said.

Overall, the new extended service on both lines are projected to cater to 300,000 new daily commuters.

The Prasarana-owned project was completed at a cost of RM8 billion.

Also present were Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Idris Jala, Land Public Transport Commission chairperson Syed Hamid Albar and Prasarana chairperson Ismail Adam.

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