Work starts on Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya line

MRT Corp CEO Datuk Seri Shahril Mokhtar said this work package was one of the major ones for the construction of the SSP Line.

SUNGAI BULOH: Mass Rapid Transit Corp Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp) will start awarding the first of nine station packages for the second MRT project – the Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya (SSP) line – next week.

The length of the SSP line will be 52.2km, with a 13.5km underground portion.

The line will have 24 stations, of which 11 stations will be underground.

According to MRT Corp chief executive officer Datuk Seri Shahril Mokhtar there are also three remaining viaduct packages to be awarded by the end of February or early March next year.

“So far, we have awarded seven main viaduct packages and also system packages. In total, we have awarded RM27bil worth of packages out of the RM32bil construction cost.

“The work on the SSP line has already begun,” he told StarBiz on the sidelines of the launch of the first phase of the Sungai Buloh-Kajang (SBK) line by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak here yesterday.

The SBK line will begin the first phase of operations today.

Najib said with all the contracts for the SBK line having been awarded, the actual cost of the project was just over RM21bil.

“In the beginning of the SBK line project, the Government had set a target cost of RM23bil. This means that the project has managed to save about RM2bil,” he pointed out.

MRT Corp will hand over operations of the SBK line to Rapid Rail Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Prasarana Malaysia Bhd.

Phase one of the SBK line, which marked the completion of its northern elevated section, will have 12 stations between Sungai Buloh and Semantan.

The remainder of the stations from Semantan to Kajang, including the underground section, will commence operations in July next year.

The construction of the 51km SBK line, along with the 9.5km underground stretch, began on July 8, 2011. It will have 31 stations, seven of which are underground.

On the RM2bil savings, Shahril said: “It could be more because we also had some savings on land acquisitions, as we went for mutual agreements.

“Everything will be confirmed once the accounts are closed by year-end,” he said.