Ahmad Maslan: No plans to privatise KTMB

KUALA LUMPUR: The Government has no plans to privatise Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB), the Dewan Rakyat was told Wednesday.

"If anyone has heard that KTMB is to be privatised, I wish to inform that it will not be because we are undertaking an intensive transformation process.

Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan said the Government was instead striving to transform KTMB's operations and services and strengthen its financial position.

"Hopefully, the transformation will enable make KTMB profitable," he said when replying to a supplementary question from Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad (BN-Mersing) during question time.

The original question came from Lee Boon Chye (PKR-Gopeng) who had wanted to know the financial performance of KTMB after being incorporated in 1992.

Ahmad said several initiatives had been adopted to restore the railway company's financial position through the KTMB Transformation Laboratory that was established with the help of the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu).

The initiatives included a review of passenger fares and cargo charges, rescheduling of the time table or termination of unprofitable services and a focus on maintenance, he said.

 "The implementation of these initiatives is expected to enable KTMB to garner a profit of RM33.1mil in 2015. With a better financial position, KTMB will be able to continue with its services in a sustainable manner without having to depend on financial aid from the Government," he said.

He said several factors contributed to the losses suffered by KTMB, such as low fares, high cost of operations involving maintenance of wagons, cost of electricity and diesel consumption, and cost of manpower. - Bernama