By Sharen Kaur
sharen@nstp.com.my
Published in NST on November 19, 2012
LINE EXTENSION: Company wants to take operations private, expand coverage to Bandar Sunway, Selangor
SCOMI Engineering Bhd wants to take the government-owned Kuala Lumpur monorail system private and expand the services to Bandar Sunway, Selangor, in a deal that could be worth over RM3 billion.
The KL Monorail project was built at a cost of RM1.18 billion by KL Infrastructure Group, which had a 40-year concession to collect fares.
The monorail began operations on August 31, 2003, offering services through 11 elevated stations from Titiwangsa Station in Jalan Tun Razak to KL Sentral in Brickfields.
Government-owned Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd stepped in and took over the assets and operations of the monorail system in December 2007 after KL Infrastructure suffered financial constraints.
The system is now operated by Prasarana's wholly-owned unit, KL StarRail Sdn Bhd, and uses 12 two-car trains built by Scomi Rail Bhd, a subsidiary of Scomi Engineering.
Scomi Engineering president Suhaimi Yaacob said the company has prepared two proposals involving the KL monorail system - extending the line to Bandar Sunway on a build, operate and transfer mode and privatising the project.
"We hope the government will reinstate the KL monorail extension project which, we believe, may only be realised in 2014. If given the opportunity, we would like to take it private and run the operation, including the line extension," Suhaimi told Business Times in a recent interview.
Suhaimi said the 22km line extension will start from KL Sentral, passing through Mid Valley City and Old Klang Road before ending at Bandar Sunway.
"The existing line is already highly stressed, which is why the government is expanding from two-car trains to four-car trains, and extending the line beyond Brickfields," he said.
"Monorail is the only rail system that is able to navigate through limited space, thus alleviating the need to acquire properties and other conventional hurdles to make way for it," he said.
As the current trains are running on full capacity, Prasarana has awarded a contract to Scomi to build 12 sets of new four-car-trains for RM494 million.
Suhaimi said the new trains will be supplied to Prasarana in batches between next month and the third quarter of next year.
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The KL Monorail project was built at a cost of RM1.18 billion by KL Infrastructure Group, which had a 40-year concession to collect fares.
The monorail began operations on August 31, 2003, offering services through 11 elevated stations from Titiwangsa Station in Jalan Tun Razak to KL Sentral in Brickfields.
Government-owned Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd stepped in and took over the assets and operations of the monorail system in December 2007 after KL Infrastructure suffered financial constraints.
Scomi Engineering president Suhaimi Yaacob said the company has prepared two proposals involving the KL monorail system - extending the line to Bandar Sunway on a build, operate and transfer mode and privatising the project.
"We hope the government will reinstate the KL monorail extension project which, we believe, may only be realised in 2014. If given the opportunity, we would like to take it private and run the operation, including the line extension," Suhaimi told Business Times in a recent interview.
Suhaimi said the 22km line extension will start from KL Sentral, passing through Mid Valley City and Old Klang Road before ending at Bandar Sunway.
"The existing line is already highly stressed, which is why the government is expanding from two-car trains to four-car trains, and extending the line beyond Brickfields," he said.
"Monorail is the only rail system that is able to navigate through limited space, thus alleviating the need to acquire properties and other conventional hurdles to make way for it," he said.
As the current trains are running on full capacity, Prasarana has awarded a contract to Scomi to build 12 sets of new four-car-trains for RM494 million.
Suhaimi said the new trains will be supplied to Prasarana in batches between next month and the third quarter of next year.
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