A Ministry of Finance Incorporated company,
MRT Co, approved by the cabinet yesterday, will assume project and asset owner
of the Klang Valley MY Rapid Transit (KVMRT) project from Syarikat Prasarana
Negara Bhd effective Sept 1.
It will focus on ensuring smooth implementation of the Sungai Buloh-Kajang
Line.
The government is expected to appoint a Malaysian citizen as the chief
executive Officer of MRT Co at a later date.
"The government is fully committed to the timely and cost-effective
delivery of the Klang Valley MRT project, which will have tremendous spillover
economic benefits," said prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in a
statement issued last Thursday by the Performance Management and Delivery Unit
(Pemandu).
"In handling a project of this size and complexity, undivided focus and
clarity in terms of project governance is of utmost priority. Ideally, and as
we have heard from the public many times, having an efficient transport system
in the Klang Valley is extremely critical.
"The Cabinet felt that it was necessary to have a dedicated unit focused
solely on ensuring that our country's biggest ever infrastructure is
implemented with undivided attention to details, smoothly and effectively,
while maintaining transparent governance throughout the process," said
Najib, who is also Finance Minister.
MRT Co will have a project management and technical team comprising experts in
mass rail projects and will include expertise seconded from the current
Prasarana MRT team.
The team's scope of responsibility involves project monitoring and tracking of
the construction of all elevated structures, stations, depots as well as
underground works, including tunneling and stations.
MRT Co will also be responsible for the commercial aspects of the project,
covering contracts, procurement and dispute resolution as well as ensuring
quality of delivery in terms of cost, scheduling and health, safety, security
and environment requirements.
MRT Co's project management and technical team will be led by Marcus Levon
Karakashian, who has been involved in the implementation of major rail projects
over the past 30 years.
Projects Karakashian has handled include Singapore MRT's Downtown, North-East
and East-West Lines and London's Jubilee Line extension.
Karakashian will report to the MRT Co chief executive officer.
Other parties involved in the KVMRT project are Land Public Transport
Commission (SPAD), as the supervising agency, and MMC-Gamuda, as the project
delivery partner (PDP).
Upon project completion, the operator of the KVMRT will be RapidKL, a
subsidiary of Prasarana.
"As such, Prasarana will continue to play a critical role in the project,
as its input and feedback during the construction phases will be beneficial to
the eventual operations of the KVMRT," it said.
As the government supervising agency for the KVMRT project, SPAD's role is to
fulfil its ultimate objective of providing Klang Valley residents with a
comfortable, efficient and integrated public transport system.
The PDP's role played by MMC-Gamuda is a concept to enhance the project manager
role with built-in incentives and penalties that are designed to ensure that
the interests of the PDP are aligned with the Government during project
implementation.
MMC-Gamudaa also provides a single point of accountability to deliver the
entire project within the agreed time and cost targets or face financial
penalties.
With the incorporation of MRT Co, Prasarana will now be able to give undivided
attention to its role of fulfilling an efficient and reliable public
transportation service for the Klang Valley.
Among the immediate tasks for Prasarana will be to focus on improving the
current LRT service and line expansion projects; expanding monorail capacity;
improving existing bus services on high demand and congested routes; and
ultimately achieving profitability in the near future. - Bernama
