PARLIAMENT, Oct 23 – Finance Minister Najib Abdul Razak in a written reply here on Thursday that the government will not bear any extra cost for the MRT project despite the ringgit’s plummeting value on the currency market. Instead, he said the cost so far was with the totalling of RM600,000 that would be borne by the contractors responsible for the project.
He response to a question from Ahmad Fauzi Zahari (Umno-Setiawangsa) that the first line of the MRT project would not have any cost increase to the government due to the ringgit depreciation. He said this is because the value of all contracts for the construction, including works on systems that involve foreign contractors, is denominated in ringgit.
He added that those contracts have been finalised before the ringgit’s value depreciated. The MRT project comprises three lines, the first of which stretches from Sungai Buloh to Kajang. Meanwhile, Najib said that as of Aug 31, the MRT’s first line is proceeding on schedule.
Therefore, the first phase of the project which from Sungai Buloh to Semantan was in 70.21 percent completed, and is expected to commence operations on Dec 31, 2016. While the second phase which from Semantan to Kajang had been also scheduled to start operations on July 31, 2017.
