Scrapped: Mahathir announces MRT 3 project to go

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today announced that the MRT circle line project, or MRT3, will be scrapped.

The announcement came two days after Mahathir confirmed that the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) project will be terminated.

"The cabinet agrees for HSR to be cancelled subject to discussions with Singapore as it involves significant financial implications.

"MRT3 will also not proceed," Mahathir told a press conference after chairing the cabinet meeting in Putrajaya.

It was previously estimated that the MRT3 would cost between RM40 billion and RM50 billion.

The circle line project was intended to link up the completed MRT1 running from Sungai Buloh to Kajang and the ongoing MRT2 running from Sungai Buloh to Putrajaya.

The third and final line in the Greater KL/Klang Valley Integrated Transit System, it would have covered areas surrounding, among others, Bandar Malaysia, Bukit Kiara and Sentul.

The MRT3 was to have used a different financing model compared to the MRT1 and MRT2, which would require the contractor to seek its own financing.

This had put conglomerates from China as frontrunners, including China Communications Construction Company (CCCC).

Beijing-owned China Railway Group Ltd (CREC) was also vying for the HSR project, which Mahathir said would have cost RM110 billion.

Mahathir said the projects had to be scrapped in a bid to control the country's debt level.

"We are not only looking at the HSR but also other mega projects which will cost billions of ringgit.

"If this country is to avoid bankruptcy, we must learn to manage our big debts and one way is to do away with projects that are not beneficial to the country," the prime minister added. -Mkini