Master plan for Johor public transport nearly ready

Pedestrians, high-speed railway and rapid transit systems included, all towns and districts affected.

JOHOR BARU: A public transport master plan for Johor is expected to be ready by the end of the year, according to the state’s Johor Public Transport Corporation.

The master plan would cater for the needs of pedestrians as well as the Federal Government’s high speed railway between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, Rapid Transit Bus and the Rapid Transit System.

Corporation board member Dr Muhammad Zaly Shah said the master plan was in the final stage of preparations and would result in development of all towns and districts.

The plans would provide a pedestrian walkway system to connect all types of existing public transport.

“When the plan is completed, I expect it will be interesting, not only providing draw up plans for Johor Baru but also other towns,” said Muhammad, who is an associate professor of town and regional planning at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.

As an example, he said the plan would provide means for Muar and Batu Pahat to reap the benefits of being part of the high-speed railway.

He said the state and Federal Governments had both agreed on the master plan, which had passed the stage of technical evaluation and studies. “We are now only waiting for funds from the Federal Government,” he said.

“The Federal and state governments would share the costs of the plan while the state government would receive some revenue from the vehicle entry permit fee imposed on cars entering Malaysia.

Iskandar Regional Development Authority chief executive Ismail Ibrahim was recently reported as saying the bus rapid transit in Iskandar Malaysia was not expected to exceed RM3 billion.

The cost includes the route lines, operation costs including bus and related applications and also encompassed the costs of the early years of operation.

According to Ismail, the development of BRT involved three phases and encompassed almost 90 per cent of the overall IRDA, with the first phase of the project expected to be ready and operational by 2020.