KUALA LUMPUR: The area around KL Sentral will soon be redeveloped to ease traffic congestion.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the project, expected to start by the end of this year, will address the traffic congestion.
He said negotiations over the redevelopment plans under the Public-Private Partnership Unit (Ukas) with Malaysian Resources Corporation Bhd (MRCB) were still ongoing.
“In principle, we received the Cabinet’s approval last year. We are expecting the project to start by year-end,” he said at a press conference after launching the 30-floor Menara Sentral Railway Assets Corporation (RAC) here yesterday.
Loke said as the main public transportation hub in the city, KL Sentral has experienced rapid growth over the past 20 years and congestion has become an issue.
“Not only will it (redevelopment project) add value to KL Sentral but there is an urgent need to do so.
“The main issue with KL Sentral is that the congestion is bad and it gets worse when ETS (Electric Train Service) commuters arrive there and continue their journey. This will be looked into in our plans to redevelop the area,” he said.
Last year, the Cabinet passed the proposal to redevelop the KL Sentral site to tackle traffic congestion and the growing number of public transport commuters.
The proposal by the Transport Ministry would cost RM1bil, to be borne by MRCB as the main developer.
The redevelopment would not affect any of the public transport services, Loke said previously.
When asked if there will be an increase in frequency of public buses as well as light transit rail (LRT) services in the area with the redevelopment project, Loke said such a move has been an ongoing effort.
“If there are requests, we will increase the frequency. But we have increased the frequency of the LRT Kelana Jaya line to KLCC to three minutes,” he said.
Earlier in his speech, Loke suggested that Menara Sentral RAC developers build a pedestrian bridge at their upcoming project connecting the building to the nearest train station.
He said this to encourage business activities and increase the use of public transport.
“We want public transport as the main catalyst to redevelop the area. This is being developed under Ukas while the land is owned by RAC. We will leave it to the private sector to develop the site.
“What we hope is that the (new) developed area is integrated with the larger KL Sentral area with access to public transportation,” he said.
