by FARA AISYAH / TMR file pix

Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd and George Kent (Malaysia) Bhd’s joint venture, MRCB George Kent Sdn Bhd (MRCB-GK), has received a letter from Prasarana Malaysia Bhd, informing the Government has agreed to continue with the proposed Light Rail Transit Line 3 (LRT 3) project from Bandar Utama to Johan Setia for a total cost of RM16.6 billion.

The cost includes land acquisition costs, interest during construction and other costs and the implementation concept of the project has been remodelled from a Project Delivery Partner regime to a Fixed Price Contract regime, the companies noted in separate exchange filings yesterday.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said in July the Cabinet has given its approval to continue with the LRT 3 project but the final cost has been reduced by 47% to RM16.63 billion.

“The 47% reduction in cost demonstrates the new Federal Government is securing significant cost reductions for excessively-priced project caused by the poor governance of the previous government,” he had said.

The projected cost of the LRT 3 submitted by Prasarana in March was RM31.65 billion.

Among the steps taken to lessen the cost includes reducing the order of 42 sets of six-car trains to 22 sets of three-car trains, minimising the construction size of the LRT train depot due to the significantly reduced number of LRT trains to be acquired, as well as streamlining the size and design of the LRT stations based on Kelana Jaya LRT line standards instead of much larger MRT stations.

The construction of five stations with very low projected passenger ridership including Lien Hoe, Temasya, SIRIM, Bukit Raja and Bandar Botanic were shelved until it is deemed necessary to be built.

The unnecessary 2km tunnel for the LRT together with an underground station at Persiaran Hishamuddin, Shah Alam was also cancelled.

The timeline to complete the LRT3 project was also extended from 2020 to 2024 in order to further reduce the construction cost which was inflated due to acceleration costs.