Construction of the Penang LRT project will begin in the fourth quarter of this year, transport minister Anthony Loke has said, reported The Star. The Penang LRT Mutiara Line project has been taken over by the federal government, and is estimated to be complete by 2030, the transport minister said.

“We hope that within six months, the negotiations with SRS Consortium can be concluded. Following that, we expect physical works can start at least by the fourth quarter this year,” Loke said.

The contracts have been divided into three segments – Segment 1, which is the Silicon Island to Komtar contract, Segment 2, which is the Komtar to Penang Sentral contract, and a contract for turnkey systems and rolling stocks. The Penang LRT Mutiara Line spans around 29 km and will feature 20 stations, including two interchange stations in Komtar and Penang Sentral.

SRS Consortium has been offered the Segment 1 contract based on the Single Sourcing Request for Proposal mechanism, while the two other contracts will be offered on an open tender basis, according to the report.

“The offer (to SRS Consortium) was made based on the request by Penang state government which had appointed SRS as the Project Delivery Partner of the Penang Transportation Master Plan, which comprises the Penang LRT Mutiara Line, through an open tender in August 2015,” Loke said.

“SRS has also studied the technical early designs while acquiring approvals for the Environmental Impact Assessment, Social Impact Assessment and conditional Skim Kereta Api,” Loke added, saying that the Cabinet has agreed to appoint MRT Corp as the developer and asset owner of the new train line.

Rolling stock operations depot and transit-oriented development projects will be conducted by MRT Corp, together with the state government, and the new strategy aims to generate additional non-fare revenue that is to be reinvested for train maintenance in the future, the transport minister added.

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