By Syauqi Jamil
KUALA LUMPUR: Transport Minister Anthony Loke today confirmed that The Mass Rapid Transit Line 3 (MRT3) project will not be cancelled but will still take place at a later time.
He said due to the current high national debt, the RM50 billion, 40km project will be one of the many other projects that will be put on hold.
“It will go through the city centre, will be built underground and would cost RM50 billion. We do not deny that the project will benefit the people, but we are also looking at the cost benefit due to the high national debt,” he said in the Dewan Rakyat.
The DAP Seremban lawmaker said while studies on the implications and costings were still being studied by MRT Corp, Putrajaya will compensate the public transportation services by adding more bus and increase the frequency of KTM trains.
“There is still a lack of bus stops and terminals, or applications for people to plan their trip. Commuter services are also being improved,” he said during a reply to UMNO Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin.
Earlier, Khairy asked Loke to state the rationale for cancelling the MRT3 project as well as to break down the implications that this would have on national finances, road congestion and consumer comfort.
No ‘GoJek’ for now
Meanwhile, Loke also said that Malaysia will not be adapting motorcycle based ride hailing services, similar to Indonesia’s GoJek anytime soon.
He said that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government currently holds no plan to legalise such services on Malaysian roads as it is currently unsuitable, adding to the fact that the statistic for road accidents involving motorcycles are at an all time high.
“Personally I am not ready to agree. The number of motorcycle accidents on the road is too high.”
“We just introduced regulations for car e-hailing which was a big issue and it wasn’t easy to regulate,” he said during while replying to a supplementary question by Khairy.
