Good news yeah. LRT Penang is now under MRT Corp
Who is MRT Corp?
“Mass Rapid Transit Corporation Sdn Bhd is a Malaysian state-owned company and a corporate body established under the Ministry of Finance Act 1957. MRT Corp is fully owned by the Minister of Finance.”
They are the company responsible for MRT lines in Malaysia. Kajang Line, Putrajaya Line and right now the MRT Line 3 also known as the MRT3 Circle Line. It is also responsible for the RTS Link between JB and Singapore too. Now, it will also be responsible for LRT Penang. Before this, LRT Penang was under the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) and the project delivery partner for it was SRS Consortium Sdn Bhd.
Source: https://www.mymrt.com.my/
Let’s now understand a bit more about this latest development.
Article in themalaysianreserve.com Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said this about the role of SRS Consortium Sdn Bhd after it was announced that the Penang LRT project would now be owned by the federal government via MRT Corp. He was replying to Bernama.
“The state government has appointed SRS Consortium as the PDP (and it) did the (necessary) work (to enable) the project to be implemented. We are still waiting for the federal government and MRT Corp’s decision regarding the role of the company.
“If it is decided that SRS Consortium has a role (to play), they can continue to do the work even if ownership of the LRT changes from the state government to MRT Corp.”
Chow said that LRT Penang would be fully funded by MRT Corp.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke said in May that phase 1 of the project, initially planned from Penang International Airport to Komtar, would now be extended to Tanjung Bungah, covering 29km with 27 stations. Do read the news in full here:Article in themalaysianreserve.com
LRT Penang is now officially under MRT Corp
By the way, if this is under MRT Corp, it also meant that it’s a full go-ahead. It also means that the funding would now be from the federal government. Of course I do wonder what will happen to the original plan of funding for the project but it’s all secondary now. Perhaps the clarification of how SRS Consortium can be a partner to this would now be critical. It’s important to have clarity in order for the project to be moving at full steam ahead. Building the LRT line is now like building a condo project yeah.
The future’s bright for people who may prefer to take the LRT versus driving. I hope that the state government would not just rely on the usual ‘let it be’ way. Perhaps it should also ‘encourage’ all the drivers to switch too by having double or triple parking rates for areas where the LRT would stop. It’s about time as Penang’s roads are already very congested these days.
I have asked this question many years ago
“Would you take the LRT if you just need to walk like 400 metres? Roughly equivalent to about 5 minutes.” I asked 10 good friends. 8 said NO. Haha. I did not tell them about the parking rates proposal though. Truth is, walking is definitely necessary as it’s impossible that every project would be right next to the LRT station. There are still MANY areas in Singapore where walking 400 metres to go to the nearest MRT station is common yeah. Happy knowing about it and I wish the state government all the best in making LRT successful.
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