SERI KEMBANGAN: Construction of the Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya (SSP) Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line has reached 30 per cent completion as of this month, said MRT Corp SSP line project director, Datuk Amiruddin Ma’aris.
He said at the current pace, the project would be able to move into the next phase of construction as scheduled.
“We have already started the viaduct crossover project along Jalan Kuala Selangor.
“The track laying works on the main line will start by December this year.
"With construction progressing rapidly and on track along the northern elevated alignment, we are confident to complete the viaduct works in time to achieve the milestone,” he told the media during a visit to the MRT SSP line project site here today.
Phase 1 of the project will run from Kwasa Damansara to Kampung Batu, and comprising 12 stations. It is targeted for completion by July 2021.
He said the phase 2 of the MRT SSP line project will include tunnels: the mined tunnel between Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Equine Park, and underground section tunnel in Kuala Lumpur.
He said the underground section tunnel between Jalan Ipoh and Bandar Malaysia South has reached 33.3 per cent completion, while the mined tunnel has just started its works last month.
Amiruddin also said that the mined tunnel, spanning about 182 metres, will be using a new method called New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM) with permanent cast in-situ concrete lining.
“The mined tunnel works at the first section of the southern elevated alignment in Taman Universiti has just begun in June this year.
“The tunnel consisting of mined tunnel and cut and cover tunnel with a total length of 540 metre.
“The mined tunnel is a twin cell box structure covering on both sides of the concrete lined tunnel with length about 197 metres on upstream (east) side and 161 metres on the downstream (west) side,” he said, adding that the phase 2 (southern elevated) is expected to be completed second quarter of 2022.
The underground section tunnel will have 11 underground stations and 26 elevated stations. The phase 1 of the line is set to be launched by July 2021 and the full operation will start by July 2022.
Also present at the project side were MRT Corp Sdn Bhd Datuk Najmuddin Abdullah and MMC Gamuda KVMRT (Project Delivery Partner SSP) Sdn Bhd project director Param Sivalingam.
Meanwhile, Param said three methods for tunnel construction will be used, which is the tunnel boring machine (tbm), mined tunnel and cut and cover tunnel.
“We adopted the second and third method for this section as it is a more cost-effective method to construct a shorter tunnel unlike the underground section,” he said.
Amiruddin added that a total of 48 packages has been awarded to contractors, worth RM30 billion, while another 20 packages worth RM2 billion is ongoing.
“We are in the progress of analysing the cost review or evaluating the overall project,” he added, while declined to elaborate more.
The 52.2km SSP Line, costing RM32 billion, will serve as a corridor to a population of around two million in Damansara Damai, Jalan Ipoh, Kampung Baru, Kuala Lumpur City Centre, Tun Razak Exchange, Kuchai Lama, Seri Kembangan and Cyberjaya.
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