Klang Valley double tracking may be on chopping block too

The second phase of the Klang Valley double tracking project may also be on the chopping block.

This was revealed by Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming, who is also the special officer to Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, in an interview with radio station BFM.

"On the cutting of expenditure, we have identified a number of projects on the development expenditure portion where the letter of offer has not been awarded yet.

"Just to give an example, there is the Klang Valley double tracking project under the Transport Ministry to upgrade some of the rail tracks for KTM Komuter in Klang Valley.

"This project is worth a few billion ringgit and it was done through direct negotiation. There was no open tender.

"So this is an example of some of the projects that we are either going to cancel completely or postpone in the meantime," he said in the radio interview.

Ong said the move is to help the country to manage its debt burden.

Phase 2 of the project was meant to upgrade the 62km stretch of railway track between Salak Selatan to Seremban.

The first phase, which involved upgrading works to the 42km stretch of track between Rawang and Salak Selatan, is already ongoing at an estimated cost of RM1.41 billion.

Ong said the priority was to cut wastage and expenditure as well as raising short-term revenue to cope with the abolition of the goods and services tax (GST).

The government had already announced the termination of the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail project and the MRT circle line project (MRT3).  -Mkini