He said the large-scale project costing RM9.3 million would be developed in an environmentally friendly manner and comply with the guidelines set out in the Special Area Plan (SAP) 2016 and SAP (Replacement) 2020.

“This initiative is taken to increase the capacity of visitors to 700 people waiting for their turn to come down the hill compared to around 200 people at present.

“The main purpose of this project is to improve the comfort of visitors, especially senior citizens and persons with disabilities, and make Bukit Bendera a major tourist destination in the future,” he said at the ground-breaking ceremony for the project at Bukit Bendera today.

Chow said the waiting area at the top station would be enlarged to two storeys measuring 1,422 sq metres from the original area of 800 sq metres.

He said the state government, through the hill corporation, intends to maintain the trees and natural attractions of the Bukit Bendera peak area.

The corporation had also implemented a smart queue management system, known as JustQ 2.0, to help manage the number of visitors waiting for their turn to board the train.