Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin had pledged to continue all projects under the Budget 2020, including the ECRL and Mass Rapid Transit 2 (MRT2), when he introduced the Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package (Prihatin) on March 27.
Malaysia Rail Link (MRL) CEO Darwis Abdul Razak expressed confidence that the 640km ECRL would see completion as scheduled.
“This is because the overall project is slightly ahead of schedule, driven by rapid construction work for ECRL’s alignment in section A (Kota Bharu-Dungun) and section B (Dungun-Mentakab),” he told Bernama recently.
According to him, the project has registered an overall progress rate of 18.10% to date when compared to 16.86% in June.
The project was only 0.02% delayed in its implementation schedule during the movement control order imposed on March 18, he said.
Currently, he said, the construction primarily involved earthworks, tunnel excavation, bridge work, foundation work and prefabricated vertical drains.
“The number of priority locations for construction, in both sections A and B, is expected to increase to 101 spots by the year-end as compared to 27 spots a year ago,” he added.
MRL is also banking on the recent recruitment of locals from the east coast states of Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang into the ECRL Industrial Skills Training Programme, for potential employment in the rail construction sector, to expedite the development.
Darwis said MRL intends for 70% of its ECRL workforce of 23,000 to comprise Malaysians.
As such, MRL anticipates that Budget 2021 will provide incentives to spur the construction work as well as support the hiring of local manpower.
The ECRL project, expected to be fully completed by December 2026, is divided into three sections, namely Section A (Kota Bharu-Dungun), Section B (Dungun-Mentakab), and Section C (Mentakab-Port Klang).
As for Section C, the government had said it was renegotiating with the Chinese government and main contractor of the project for finalisation of the alignment costs and project implementation schedule.
LRT3 making progress
Meanwhile, Thought Partners Group Consulting (TPG) founder and group managing partner Abi Sofian Abdul Hamid said the Light Rail Transit 3 (LRT3) project was also making progress.
He said LRT3 is due for full completion in February 2024, with 33.12% work done thus far.
Once completed, the project stretching 37.8km, will connect the western corridor of Klang Valley and Kuala Lumpur.
As for MRT projects, the developer told Bernama that the progress of the Putrajaya Line as of August 2020 was at 79.2%.
MRT Corporation Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp) SSP Line project director Amiruddin Ma’aris recently said phase one, involving the Kwasa Damansara and Kampung Batu MRT stations, should be able to begin operating by the middle of 2021, and the rest of the line by 2022.
The MRT Putrajaya Line is the second line under the Klang Valley MRT project. It will have 36 stations, of which nine are underground. The entire alignment is 56.2km, from Kwasa Damansara to Putrajaya Sentral.