THE government is looking at bringing down the cost of completing the Mass Rapid Tansit 2 (MRT2) line project after temporarily shelving the third phase of the project, said MRT Corporation chief executive officer Shahril Mokhtar.

After a brief meeting with the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) today, Shahril confirmed that MRT3 will be placed on a backburner for now as the company and government focuses on ways to cut the cost of building Line 2.

”(Line 3) has been shelved for now. We discussed on how we can further reduce cost for Line 2,” he told reporters outside of Ilham Tower in Kuala Lumpur today.

Shahril however did not mention the target reduction.

“We are trying our best to reduce cost to further save the rakyat’s money,” he said.

In September last year, former prime minister Najib Razak announced that the MRT2 line will cost around RM32 billion.

The MRT2 line spans 52.2km in length, of which 13.5km is underground. A total of 37 stations, 11 of them underground, will be built under the project.

On May 31, prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced that the MRT 3 project, which is still at its planning stages, will be shelved due to its reported cost of between RM40 billion and RM45 billion.

The MRT 3 would have completed the Circle Line, comprising the MRT1 which connects Sungai Buloh-Kajang, and MRT 2 which connects Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya lines.

MRT3 was planned to provide a loop line to integrate all public transport systems in the Klang Valley by 2025.

The project which spans over 40km was supposed to have 26 stations with 32km of its route being underground. – June 22, 2018.