Syarikat Prasarana Nasional Berhad (SPNB) is confident that the on-going extension of the Kelana Jaya and Ampang light rail transit (LRT) lines will stay within the project’s RM7 billion budget.

azlan SPNB project development division group director Zulkifli Mohd Yusoff said they have already included funds under the budget to manage any contingencies.

“We are confident the RM7 billion (budget) won’t be breached,” he told journalists during a media briefing on the progress of the LRT extension project today.

Zulkifli said they have so far raised RM2 billion in Sukuk bonds to finance the project, which is expected to start on structural works by the end of this month.

He said they will need to raise the remaining RM5 billion next year to stay on course on their early 2014 completion target.

“The funds are enough for this year, and we are going to the market to raise more funds... since we raised the RM2 billion through Sukuk bonds, we expect to go the same way in raising the rest of the funds.”

The extension project, which is being done simultaneously for both the Kelana Jaya and Ampang LRT lines, is split into two phases with most of the construction packages under Package A already issued through open tender.

NONE Under Package A, he said SPNB has allocated some RM150 million for advance works with some 15 percent already utilised according to the contractors' progress.

Funds of RM1.7 billion, meanwhile, has been set aside for structural works under Package A, scheduled to start later this month pending local authority approval.

The list of contractors under Package B ,meanwhile, will be finalised by SPNB – wholly owned by the federal government – on  Monday (March 14).

Zulkifli, however,  noted that SPNB can only announce the list of Package B contractors within two to three months, pending Finance Ministry approval.

More coaches on the way

To service the extended LRT lines, Zulkifli said SPNB intends to buy at least 55 more trains to cater for the expected growth in the number of commuters.

NONE He said todate, they have spent RM1.2 billion to purchase 35 four-coach trains for the Kelana Jaya line from transportation giant Bombardier – which incidentally supplied the 35 two-coach trains serving the current route.

Of the new trains, 25 have already been delivered and are in use and Zulkifli expects the remaining 10 trains to be delivered within this year.

For the Ampang line, Zulkifli said they are looking at adding on another 20 trains to supplement the 35 already servicing the route, but have yet to decide on who will supply the new engines.

Unlike the trains on the Kelana Jaya line, which he said used more proprietary technology, he said the Ampang line trains are more “off the shelf” and expects competitive offers from up to eight different companies.

"We've got our estimates (on how much the trains will cost), but we won't say anything for now because we don't want to give anything away (to the bidders). We will issue an open tender in April," Zulkifli said.

NONE The LRT extension project, mooted as far back as 2004, will extend the Kelana Jaya line by 17km and the Ampang line by 17.7km, adding 13 new stations to each line.

The Kelana Jaya line will extend from the Kelana Jaya station and cross over the Federal Highway into Subang, making stops at Subang Parade and The Summit shopping complexes among others and ending at Putra Heights.

The Ampang line extension, meanwhile, will start from Sri Petaling and cut across the Bukit Jalil Highway, with IOI Mall and Bandar Puteri Puchong among the stations to be built before also ending at Putra Heights.

The Kelana Jaya line extension will have five park-and-ride stations while the Ampang line extension will boast seven such stations.

SPNB expects the extended routes to be open to the public by mid-2014.