GEORGE TOWN (Oct 15): The Penang government is confident that the Mutiara Line Light Rail Transit (LRT) project will take off before the end of the year.

Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said it is understood that final-stage negotiations are being held between Mass Rapid Transit Corporation Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp), as the implementation agency, and contractors SRS Consortium to finalise technical-related issues and the contract value.

He said the negotiations involved the construction of components for the first segment of the project, namely from Silicon Island to Komtar here.

"Once finalised, the next stage is to ink the agreement between both parties before starting work.

"We know that many announcements have been made about wanting to start the project in the final quarter of this year,” he told reporters at a media conference in his office in Komtar here on Tuesday.

Previously, local media had reported that the groundbreaking ceremony for the Mutiara Line LRT project would be held in December, with the first station to be built in Lebuh Macallum, and that Transport Minister Anthony Loke is said to have approved the date to start work on the 29km project.

Elaborating, Chow said the state government also wished to see work on the project take off as scheduled.

However, he said, the actual date for the groundbreaking ceremony would have to be announced by the Ministry of Transport or MRT Corp since it is a federal project.

On March 29, Loke announced that the federal government had officially taken over the LRT Mutiara Line project from the state government, with MRT Corp as the developer and asset owner.

The project is divided into three components, namely the civil construction works for Segment 1 covering the Silicon Island to Komtar alignment, civil construction works for Segment 2 involving the Komtar to Penang Sentral alignment, and the turnkey contract for systems and rolling stocks works on a build-maintain-transfer basis.

The LRT Mutiara Line, to be linked to Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB) and ETS train services, is expected to begin operations in 2030.

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