He said the company will bear the cost of the estimated RM1 billion project. In return, it will be given the right to set up commercial units at the transport hub.

“For us, this is a privatisation project that doesn’t cost the government any money, while we will get a modern station to fulfil the public’s transportation needs,” said Loke at a press conference at the transport ministry here today.

“KL Sentral is one of the (country’s) most important transport hubs as it is the main station for KLIA Express, LRT and KTM train services.”

Loke said there is an urgent need to rebuild KL Sentral as the transport hub is facing serious congestion issues.

He said the current building, which was only designed to accommodate 100,000 commuters a day, is now seeing 200,000 daily commuters.

He also said the new design will improve the building’s security aspects by replacing anologue CCTV with AI CCTV that can track human movements.

Loke said the rebuild is set to begin in one to two years’ time, and the ministry is in discussion with the public-private partnership unit (Ukas) at the Prime Minister’s Department regarding the project.

“We hope the discussions will be finalised within a year,” he said, adding that KL Sentral will remain open during the reconstruction.

KL Sentral first started operations in 2001. In 2021, then transport minister Wee Ka Siong said the government was considering its first-ever major upgrade.

In a New Straits Times report, Wee said this was to cater to the increasing number of commuters as the facility had exceeded its 100,000 daily commuters capacity.

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