PENANG TO HOLD WORKSHOP WITH STAKEHOLDERS TO FINALISE MUTIARA LINE LRT ALIGNMENT

GEORGE TOWN, May 2 (Bernama) -- The Penang government plans to hold a workshop with stakeholders to finalise the Penang Mutiara Line Light Rail Transit (LRT) Project following minor amendments to the original plan.

Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the workshop was expected to be held within a week or two so that further work involving the transformative infrastructure project could be carried out.

“Today, the MRT Corporation briefed the State Development Action Council regarding the LRT project, where after the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers (approving the LRT project), the MRT Corporation has done technical work and proposed some amendments to the original plan of the SRS Consortium as well as the (LRT) connection to Penang Sentral.

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“The meeting received the briefing and as a response the state government suggested a workshop involving relevant stakeholders be held to finalise the line-up because there are some amendments,” he said.

He said this after Deputy Chief Minister II Jagdeep Singh Deo’s Raya open house which was also attended by the Yang Dipertua Negeri, Tun Ahmad Fuzi Abdul Razak and his wife Toh Puan Khadijah Mohd Noor here tonight.

Chow said the alignment needed to be finalised so that other work including land acquisition, designs, station locations and so on could be finalised.

He said several working committees involving the state government, MRT Corp and other agencies responsible for monitoring the progress of the project would be formed to examine technical matters so that the project was carried out according to the set schedule.

He also expressed appreciation to MRT Corp for its valuable input, covering various aspects such as operations and maintenance, early contractor involvement (ECI), shortest bridge crossing, integrated depot and lowest project cost.

On March 29, Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook announced that the Federal government officially took over the Penang Mutiara Line LRT project from the state government, with MRT Corporation appointed as the developer and asset owner.

The procurement of the project is divided into three main components, which are civil construction works for Segment 1 which is the alignment of Pulau Silikon to Komtar; works for civil construction for Segment 2 which is the line from Komtar to Penang Sentral and a ‘turnkey contract’ for system and carriage (coach) works.

-- BERNAMA