By Syauqi Jamil
KUALA LUMPUR: There are currently no plans for Putrajaya to reopen the tender for the Light Rail Transit Line 3 (LRT3), said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng in the Dewan Rakyat.
This was in response to Barisan Nasional Kepala Batas MP Reezal Merican Naina Merican who queried if the Pakatan Harapan government would source for new tender for LRT3 since the rates and specifications have since changed.
“If we have to reopen the tender, we have to pay more than RM4.2 billion of compensation. This cost would be too heavy for the government to bear now. Because the compensation fee is too high, its not recommended for us to reopen the tender,” he said.
Lim then said that despite massive budget cut down, the LRT3 project will still take place while denying that the scaled down version of the project would be a less effective one.
“The fact that we reduced the project cost from RM31.65 billion to RM16.63 billion is a huge success for the government because we managed to save the people’s money.”
“We have managed to reduce the cost of LRT3 by 47% which means total savings of RM15 billion for the government,” he said.
The 37km LRT3 project is expected to be completed in 2024. It will stretch from Johan Setia, Klang to Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya.
