Published April 9, 2009

KL light rail on track for upgrade

HSS Integrated, Minconsult to come up with designs to extend network by August

By S JAYASANKARAN
IN KUALA LUMPUR

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THE first upgrade of Kuala Lumpur's urban transport network is set to take off, with two firms hired to come up with designs to extend the city's two light rail systems by 16 km.

The government has set the firms an August deadline, after which construction work is expected to begin.

Sources said that two months ago, Syarikat Prasarana Negara, a government agency that oversees national urban transport, awarded design contracts to HSS Integrated and Minconsult, two of Malaysia's largest civil engineering consultancies.

The management side of the project is said to have been awarded to Opus, a state-owned company in the United Engineers group.

The contracts will kick-start Malaysia's largest infrastructure project in recent years - a RM6 billion (S$2.5 billion) job that should help reflate the country's shrinking economy.

In addition, another RM1 billion will be needed to buy additional rolling stock from Bombardier of France.

The funds are not part of the recently announced stimulus package - they are expected to be raised through a bond offer by Syarikat Prasarana.

The project stops short of an original plan that called for a new 40 km line connecting the new suburb of Kota Damansara with Cheras, one of KL's oldest and most populated suburbs.

Sources said that this was probably due to budget constraints, as the new line was estimated to cost RM11-12 billion. Each extension will, instead, cost about RM3 billion.

HSS Integrated will do the design work on extending the Star line, which runs from Sentul in downturn KL to Desa Petaling to the south.

The extension will enlarge the network almost to Puchong, west of the city, where it will meet the Putra line, the extension of which is being designed by Minconsult.

Putra runs from Ampang in KL to Petaling Jaya to the west. The extension will take it to Subang Jaya and then around to Puchong. Each extension is expected to benefit more than a million people.