PORT KLANG: Tenders for the first package of the RM9 billion Bandar Utama-Klang Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 3 project are slated to begin in March.
Prasarana Malaysia Bhd president and group chief executive officer Datuk Azmi Abdul Aziz said a pre-qualification process would take place before that and was expected to be completed next month.
Azmi was speaking after an inspection of new LRT car trains at Hartasuma Sdn Bhd’s assembly site, here, yesterday. The LRT car trains are made by Canada’s Bombardier Transportation.
Prasarana is purchasing 14 sets of four-car trains from Bombardier for RM577.6 million. These new car trains will be gradually installed at the Kelana Jaya LRT line starting May.
Azmi said the price tag was agreed upon during the tender process two years ago and was, therefore, unaffected by the current currency fluctuations.
Also present were Prasarana chairman Tan Sri Ismail Adam, Bombardier president of division systems for Asia and Australia Pierre Attendu and Hartasuma founder Tan Sri Ravindran Menon.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak recently announced that 2016 Budget would be adjusted to take into account the impact of falling oil prices on government revenue.
Asked if the LRT Line 3 project might face any disruption, Azmi said: “Infrastructure projects undertaken by Prasarana have always been funded by sukuk issuance at the bond market. LRT line 3 project will go according to schedule”.
He said the LRT Line 3 would have 26 stations, of which only one was underground.
The alignment will span 37km.
LRT Line 3 is expected to serve up to two million people in the Klang Valley and transport about 70,000 passengers daily with an end-to-end journey time of about an hour.