Kuala Lumpur April 13 — MRT Corp is considering raising private funds to finance 10% to 30% of the MRT Circle Line (MRT3) project.
Its CEO, Mohd Zarif Mohd Hashim, said this was to ease the government’s financial burdens.
“The government is prepared to fund this project but they are also giving an opportunity for MRT Corp to come up with our own private funding proposal.
“Right now, we are looking at a hybrid model. The project is reliant on government support, but we are trying to help the government,” he said at an MRT3 event at Menara Ken TTDI here today.
While he did not reveal the total cost of the project, Zarif said speculations in news reports the past week were “not that far off”.
He said tenders would be called in August, with MRT Corp aiming to complete the awarding process by the end of the year and for construction work to begin in early 2022.
He did not reveal the exact tender format, but said it would be “a different kind of tender award exercise”.
He said MRT Corp had already issued requests for information (RFI) to industry players.
MRT3 seeks to become a “catalyst and platform” for economic development, urban rejuvenation and affordable housing.
Zarif said MRT Corp would be working with various ministries, property developers and other industry players so that everyone in the country would benefit from the project, including enterprises in Sabah and Sarawak.
He said the project would also focus on the use of local technologies and reducing the country’s reliance on foreign workers over the course of 10 years.
