LRT3 surpasses 91% completion, on track to commence ops by March 1, 2025, says Loke

• Regarding the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link project, Loke announced that infrastructure work in Malaysia had reached 65% as of the end of December last year, while system work was 33.71% complete.

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 9): The construction of the Light Rail Transit 3 (LRT3) project had reached 91.86% as of Dec 25, according to Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook.

With that, the first phase of LRT3, which consists of 20 existing stations, is on track to commence operations by March 1, 2025, if everything goes smoothly, Loke said during a briefing on Prasarana Malaysia Bhd's 2023 performance and future plans on Tuesday.

The 37km LRT3 line, initially consisting of 26 stations and aiming to serve the western corridor of the Greater Klang Valley, was inaugurated in 2016 during the Barisan Nasional administration, with a budget of RM9 billion at that time.

The RM9 billion amount did not include other costs such as project delivery partner fees (6%), other consultant fees, operational and overhead costs, as well as interest payments during construction, resulting in a total cost of RM31.7 billion.

In 2018, the then Pakatan Harapan government decided to shelve construction of five stations, and cancel one other station as part of a cost-cutting drive to manage the overall project cost, and lower the price tag of LRT3 to RM16.63 billion.

However, while presenting Budget 2024 in the Dewan Rakyat, Prime Minister cum Finance Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced that the five shelved LRT3 stations, namely Tropicana, Raja Muda, Temasya, Bukit Raja, and Bandar Botanik, would be revived at a cost of RM4.7 billion.

Prasarana has proposed commencing operations of LRT3 in two phases, with the 20 existing stations falling under Phase 1, and the five additional stations falling under Phase 2.

The commencement date of Phase 2 is scheduled to be March 1, 2027, two years after the commencement of Phase 1 operations.

Regarding the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link project, Loke announced that infrastructure work in Malaysia had reached 65% as of the end of December last year, while system work was 33.71% complete.

“We target the completion date of the RTS Link to be Dec 31, 2026," he added.

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