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When work begins next year on the proposed Mass Rapid Transit system that will serve the population of the greater KL and Klang Valley, it will mark the start of what will be the largest infrastructure project in the country.

More than 130,000 people will be employed during its construction, and the project will develop RM3-4 bil annually in terms of direct gross national income contribution from its construction and operations, and a further RM8-12 bil generated from spillover effects.

The project will kick off with the construction of the first service line beginning in July 2011, which will run through a Northwest-Southeast corridor alignment. The line will ply a 60 km route between Sungai Buloh and Kajang, and take six years to complete. When built in 2016, the Phase 1a part of the project is expected to have more than 400,000 users daily, and serve a population catchment of 1.2 mil people.

It will contain 35 stops, with four interchanges linked to existing rail services, these being the KTM Komuter lines at Sg Buloh and Kajang and in KL, the Putra KJ line at Pasar Seni and Star Ampang line at Maluri.

These were some of the details revealed about the initial phase of the project at a briefing held by the Land Public Transportation Commission earlier today, which was presented by its chairman Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar and CEO Mohd Nur Ismal Kamal. While there’s plenty to digest, we’ll just start the journey with the facts and some figures here.

The Sg Buloh-Kajang line that will eventually come about will be a variation of the original MMCG joint venture’s proposal. MMCG originally proposed running two lines from Sg Buloh, one to Kajang (via Kepong) and the other ending nearer to Seri Kembangan (via Kota Damansara).

The LPTC briefing revealed that the plans would now go with the Minconsult option, which has the original lines merged into a single line, using the top half of the Seri Kembangan route and the bottom half of the Kajang one (see first diagram) in what is tagged as the Prasarana Line 3. Prasarana is the appointed project and asset owner for the MRT development.

The LPTC says that the MRT shouldn’t be looked just purely as a transportation project, saying it would serve a larger cause, primarily enabling the economic generator to move, as it puts it.

It added that the reasons for starting the system with the Northwest-Southeast line was because it is integrated into things, part of the proposed Urban Rail Development Plan due out in March next year.

And, from a feasibility point of view, it has been extensively studied, having been originally proposed by Prasarana back in 2006 as well as by MMCG and Minconsult. Lastly, it would serve public needs, as the corridor is, as the LPTC puts it, underserved.

Structurally, the plan is to get Phase 1b going in 2012, and Phase 2 in 2016, with the entire three lines of the MRT project to be completed in 2020. When finished, the 141 km-long infrastructure will serve a population catchment of close to 3.4 mil people over a radius of 20 km from the city centre, with 1.17 mil users anticipated on a daily basis.

The estimated cost of the entire project, as initially scoped by Gamuda, is RM36.6 bil for all three lines, not just for the initial Sg Buloh-Kajang one, though the LPTC says that the complete eventual cost has not been finalised.

This cost will involve tunnelling, building the underground stations, elevated guideways, elevated stations, depots, track works and system works. Rolling stocks and land acquisition, where it is needed, isn’t factored in to this initial cost estimate.

From a project structure viewpoint, LPTC will be the supervising and coordinating agency, while project and asset owner Prasarana has a bit on its plate – it is to appoint RapidKL as the system operator and MMCG JV as the project delivery partner, as well as create a subsidiary to manage property and commercial developments around the MRT assets.

As for project funding, the Ministry of Finance is to set up a special purpose vehicle company as the infrastructure’s funding entity.

Next March will see the public display of the Sg Buloh-Kajang line alignment, where everyone will finally get to see which areas the MRT line will run through and how it will all shape up – the LPTC says that public must be consulted, and feedback obtained. Undoubtedly, some may find cause for complaint, but for many, the idea of this has been long-awaited, and very much a godsend.

Following the recent spate of accidents involving long distance buses, with Monday’s incident involving an excursion bus in Cameron Highlands – where 27 people lost their lives – being exceptionally fresh in the memory, the Land Public Transport Commission (LPTC) has said that addressing the safety issue is a point of paramount significance.

In a statement, the LPTC – which was officially established in June following the passing of the Suruhanjaya Pengangkutan Awam Darat Act 2010 by Parliament in May this year – said that as the Government agency which will be taking over the regulation of land public transport including express, tour and charter buses, it viewed the issue of long distance bus safety very seriously and with great concern.

To underscore this concern, LPTC is making road safety a very high priority area in its list of concerns as it moves towards full operations next year. LPTC has begun discussions with bus operators and relevant government agencies with the view to resolve issues which are causing a compromise in safety within the industry.

The commission recently held a round table discussion on express and tour bus safety which was well attended by both express and tour bus operators, as well as relevant Government agencies. The session allowed all parties to identify several root causes of bus accidents and identify ways and parties to find ways to overcome them.

On LPTC’s part, the outcomes of these discussion sessions will be evaluated and, where relevant, LPTC will draw up policies, rules and regulations to ensure that safety standards of public transport services are maintained. Among the options being looked at closely is an enhancement of the implementation and enforcement of the Safety, Health and Environment Code of Practice (SHE COP) for bus operators, essentially a holistic approach to safety for the industry and covering all aspects from driver hiring policies to bus structure specifications.

What do you think – how best can the issue be addressed, and bus travel made a safer proposition for all?