Ahmed Nabel

Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit (KVMRT) Project is a rail-based public transport network, envisaged to radically improve and transform Kuala Lumpur’s public transportation coverage and to propel the Greater Kuala Lumpur into one of the top most liveable cities in the world. The MRT project which was approved by the Malaysian Government in December 2010 and launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on 8 July 2011, will help ease traffic congestion and increase the public transport modal share from 18 % in 2009 to 40 % in 2020. It will be the backbone of the new sustainable transport system, integrating with LRT, Monorail, KTMB Komuter, intra-city and inter-city bus routes. The MRT project was made an Entry Point Project of the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) under the Greater Kuala Lumpur/Klang Valley National Key Economic Area (NKEA). The ETP is being implemented by the The Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) of the Prime Minister’s Department. The first MRT line stretches from Sungai Buloh to Kajang (SBK) and will serve a catchment of 1.2 million residents travelling between populated residential, commercial centres and key employment areas in the Klang Valley. The Sungai Buloh-Kajang line covers a distance of 51km and hosts 31 stations. The RM8.2 billion tunnelling package for KVMRT SBK Line involves the design and construction of 9.5km of MRT underground tunnel with seven underground stations. MGKT won the contract through a competitive bid. The underground tunnelling alignment runs from the Semantan North Portal near the Federal Hill past the urban transport hub of KL Sentral and the busy streets of Bukit Bintang and Chinatown to the Maluri South Portal near Taman Miharja. The entire 51km MRT SBK Line is expected to be fully operational by mid-2017.