Prasarana to comply with reduction of LRT3 project

Govt-owned infrastructure company says it is awaiting Treasury instructions on cost rationalisation measures.

Prasarana said it had sought to raise RM22 billion in government guaranteed bonds for LRT3. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Government-owned transport operator Prasarana Malaysia Bhd says it will abide by the finance ministry’s instruction for reductions in the Light Rail Transit 3 (LRT3) project.

In a statement today, the company said it would await further instructions on the “rigorous and comprehensive cost rationalisation to be approved”.

Prasarana, which owns and operates RapidKL train and bus services, said the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) had also sanctioned the proposed reductions in stations.

On Thursday, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng had said several changes were being made in what he called a cost-cutting measure. Three-car trains sets, instead of six-car sets, would be used, train depots made smaller, a 2km-long tunnel cancelled, and an underground station and five other stations scrapped.

The LRT3 stations scrapped were those proposed for Lien Hoe, Temasya,Sirim, Bukit Raja and Bandar Botanic.

“Nevertheless, provisions have been made for new stations to be built or existing stations to be upgraded when demand increases in the future,” it said.

Prasarana said it was initially given Cabinet approval in 2015 to issue government-guaranteed bonds of RM10 billion to raise funds for the cost of work package contracts and supply of feeder buses (at RM9 billion), as well as land acquisition (RM1 billion), it said.

“Prasarana was fully aware that the initial cost of LRT3 (RM10 billion) was inadequate, and a substantial increase would be needed for the project to be completed,” it said.

On March 30 this year, the company had formally requested approval to raise an additional RM22 billion in bonds with the expectation that the final total cost of LRT3 would increase to RM31.65 billion.

On Thursday, Lim said the Cabinet had approved a reduced project cost of RM16.6 billion.

“Prasarana currently awaits instructions from the ministry of finance on the rigorous and comprehensive cost rationalisation to be approved,” it said. -FMT