This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on April 8, 2024 - April 14, 2024
THE project owner of the Penang Light Rail Transit (LRT), Mass Rapid Transit Corp Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp), is open to any proposal for the system, including a rubber-tyred one, to ensure operation and maintenance cost is kept to a minimum.
Sources familiar with the matter, including one from MRT Corp, say the Ministry of Finance Inc-owned company will choose a system based on the total cost of ownership, including all maintenance machinery, tools and spare parts.
“We cannot be prejudiced against any system. [There are] many types of systems out there, only that they are not well known to Malaysians,” says the MRT Corp source.
Malaysia does not currently have a rubber-tyred metro system, which is one that uses a mix of road and rail technologies. However, the Aerotrain in Kuala Lumpur International Airport used to operate on the Innovia APM 100 people-mover system manufactured by Alstom, which runs on rubber tyres.
While the Innovia APM 100 has mostly been used as people movers between airport terminals, it has also been used in urban lines such as the Metromover in Miami, Florida, the Bukit Panjang LRT Line in Singapore and Zhujiang New Town Automated People Mover System in Guangzhou.
Penang LRT is expected to be a medium-capacity train, running from the Silicon Island in the southeast of Penang island to Komtar in George Town, and from George Town to Penang Sentral in Butterworth.
The choice of the system by MRT Corp will have a bearing on the contract value of the first segment (Segment 1) of the Penang LRT, which will be developed by SRS Consortium Sdn Bhd. SRS Consortium was offered the contract to develop Segment 1 between Silicon Island and Komtar by MRT Corp.
SRS Consortium is 60% owned by Gamuda Bhd, while the remaining stake is equally owned by Loh Phoy Yen Holdings Sdn Bhd and Ideal Property Development Sdn Bhd.
SRS Consortium was appointed via a single source request for proposal mechanism. This means that MRT Corp and SRS Consortium will negotiate the price and scope of the tender for Segment 1, with the latter acting as turnkey contractor. It is not known how much Segment 1 will cost out of the RM10 billion budget allocated for the Penang LRT.
When asked to comment about market talk that MRT Corp is considering a rubber-tyred system, CEO Datuk Mohd Zarif Hashim says MRT Corp will listen to any proposal from the bidders as the contract for the system will be conducted via open tender.
“We must be open to listening [to the bidders]. We want a system that could be easily maintained and [comes at a] cheap cost. Otherwise, we cannot continue to build and operate more LRT lines in the country.
“Our understanding of the past does not reflect the innovations in technology today and in the future,” he says, pointing to the systems in Japan and China that use various types of metro systems for their cities.
MRT Corp is the project developer and asset owner of the Penang LRT project, also known as the Mutiara Line LRT. There is no need for a project delivery partner for the Penang LRT after the appointment of MRT Corp.
SRS Consortium was appointed as the PDP for the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) in August 2015. The PTMP is a master plan by the Penang government to develop transport systems for the state until 2030.
The PTMP, initially estimated to cost over RM40 billion between 2015 and 2030, was to be funded through the sale of land from three artificially reclaimed islands in the south of Penang Island.
This project, called the Penang South Island (PSI) reclamation, was supposed to see the reclamation of three islands measuring 2,300 acres (Island A), 1,400 acres (Island B) and 800 acres (Island C). However, fishermen, supported by non-governmental organisations, strongly opposed the project. They argued that it would destroy the marine ecosystem there and, therefore, their livelihoods.
Since the PSI had become a political hot potato in the state, both the state and federal governments sought to find an amicable way to solve the issue. In 2023, the PSI was scaled down from three islands to one.
In return, the federal government would fund the Penang LRT, with an allocated budget of RM10 billion. However, as the Penang government had appointed SRS Consortium as the PDP for the PTMP in 2015, it gave rise to the question as to whether the company would still be the PDP for Penang LRT.
This is because MRT Corp has been the project developer and asset owner of the country’s metro system projects since the development of MRT Putrajaya Line. It is owned by the Ministry of Finance Inc. This explains why the Penang LRT was broken down into two segments.
When announcing in late March that the Penang LRT would take off by this year, Minister of Transport Anthony Loke explained that the single-source request for proposal for Segment 1 to SRS Consortium was to avoid any legal issues.
Zarif did not reveal when the tenders for Segment 2, depot, system and signalling would be called. Segment 2 is expected to attract many bidders as it will involve the construction of a bridge crossing the Penang Strait to reach Penang Sentral in Seberang Prai.
The 11km-wide Penang Strait separates Penang island from the Malay Peninsula. This means that the cross-strait viaduct needed for the Penang LRT will be about five times the size of the viaducts needed for the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS).
The total length of the RTS was 4km, with 2.7km within Malaysia and the rest in Singapore. Sunway Construction Group Bhd’s wholly-owned subsidiary Sunway Construction Sdn Bhd was awarded a RM604.86 million contract in March 2023 for the advance works for station and viaducts, terrestrial viaducts and ancillary structures for the RTS.
Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy.
P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's App Store and Android's Google Play.