The development of Greater Kuala Lumpur is a key 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP) initiative. It is one of the national key economic areas (NKEAs) that will drive Malaysia’s growth in the next 10 years.
The goal is to position Greater KL, which encompasses the capital city and its surrounding satellite towns, as a national growth node and develop it into a first-class global city. At the same time, the plan is to establish the KL international financial district as a global financial centre, specifically for Islamic finance.
The thinking behind the development of Greater KL is that people and economic activities gravitate towards vibrant places, thus creating clusters of growth, which reap the benefits of agglomeration of scale, productivity and innovation.
And in today’s global and mobile economy, professionals and skilled workers have many options for where to live and work. Wealthy cities, understandably, are those that perform better on liveability.
To become a developed nation, cities like KL need to become more liveable and compact, and grow in a sustainable manner.
Today, Greater KL contributes eight times the GDP of any other geographic cluster in Malaysia, according to the 10MP report. But compared with other Asian cities, Greater Kuala Lumpur has a relatively lower economic output per square kilometre. In terms of liveability, Kuala Lumpur is ranked 79th out of 140 countries surveyed in the 2010 Economist Intelligence Unit’s Liveability Index.
Thus, the 10MP sees the need for aggressive measures to develop KL into a world-class city.
One of the measures that will be pursued is transforming the urban public transport system across Greater KL. A landmark mega project that will be undertaken is a high-capacity mass rapid transit (MRT) system — the primary objective being to ensure seamless interconnectivity.
The project will be carried out on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis, and construction will spill over from the five-year 10MP into the 11MP.
The total length of the proposed MRT system is 156km, and it will be integrated with the existing systems that serve areas within a 20km radius of the city centre.
The MRT, to cater for future demand, will complement the existing systems. In essence, Greater KL will be served by the bus, monorail, MRT and light rail transit (LRT) systems.
The MRT project, according to the 10MP, will be a mixture of aboveground and underground tracks and stations. When fully operational, it will make two million trips a day compared to 480,000 trips a day made by the current urban rail systems.
In Greater KL, the target under the 10MP is to improve the share of public transport from 12% in 2009 to 30% by 2015.
Efforts to improve the transport system in Greater KL gathered pace last year.
The LRT system, which was built in the mid-1990s, is also being upgraded to meet rising passenger traffic.
A major initiative to improve capacity is the 34km extension of existing lines and the delivery of 35 sets of new four-car trains, which will increase the capacity of the Kelana Jaya LRT from 24,000 to 98,000 passengers an hour.
Eight sets of four-car trains on the Kelana Jaya LRT were made operational progressively between end-2009 and 1Q2010. By the end of this year, another 27 sets will be delivered.
In January this year, four bus expressway transit routes and a high-speed limited-stop service were launched in Greater KL.
The government expects to complete the Integrated Transportation Terminal (ITT) in Bandar Tasik Selatan and the construction of ITT Gombak by 2012. This will ease congestion caused by intercity buses congregating in the city centre.
According to the 10MP, a potential extension of the monorail system will also be considered in the future to improve connectivity between the KTM Komuter, LRT and monorail systems.
An integrated cashless ticketing system will be introduced across all 16 public transport operators in Greater KL under the 10MP, which will eliminate the need for multiple tickets and shortening journey times.
On a more macro basis, the purchase of 38 new six-car electric multiple units, to be delivered by 2012, will augment the capacity of the KTM Komuter system. This, according to the 10MP report, will benefit 500,000 commuters daily.
To further expand capacity, a 40km Greater KL bus rapid transit system, consisting of three major corridors, will be implemented.
Apart from improving the transport system in Greater KL, the MRT is also part of an overall plan to develop a rakyat-centric and efficient public transport system, which is a proven enabler of sustained economic prosperity and vital to ensuring that cities become attractive places for people to live, work and play.
In recent years, the government has undertaken a major restructuring of the public transport industry, the latest being the establishment of the Commission for Land Public Transport (SPAD) and the introduction of the Land Public Transport Bill in June 2010.
SPAD is expected to pave the way for an important shift in the industry along the levers of governance, planning, licensing, enforcement and funding. A Land Transport Fund, created by the Land Public Transport Bill, will be operated by SPAD to improve land public transport, including in rural areas.
Improving public transport is one of the six national key result areas (NKRAs), which are national priority areas of focus identified by the government transformation programme.
Under the 10MP, some RM2.8 billion has been allocated for this NKRA initiative, to be completed in the first two years of the plan period.
Another project that has been put in place under the public transport NKRA is the 197km extension of the electrified double-tracking project (DTP) from Gemas to Johor Baru. When completed, the railway tracks will run from Padang Besar in the north of the peninsula to Johor Baru in the south. Passenger traffic is estimated to be 5.7 million by 2015 from 4.3 million in 2009.
At the same time, freight traffic will rise to 8.5 million tonnes in 2015 from 5.2 million in 2009.
This article appeared in Corporate page of The Edge Malaysia, Issue 810, June 14-20, 2010