THE median price of homes within a 1km radius of the Pusat Bandar Damansara mass rapid transit station is RM4 million, said the Centre for Governance and Political Studies (Cent-GPS).

The finding is contained in its report, titled “MRT Study: B40 and M40 groups benefiting from the MRT project?”, which also said the median price of houses near the Sg Buloh MRT and Mutiara MRT stations is affordable only to expatriates, who make up just 1% of Malaysia’s population.

“This area is not considered a luxury neighbourhood, based on its location from the city centre.

“However, new developments in this area have homes, such as double-storey semi-detached units and bungalows, that are not affordable to the B40 (bottom 40%) and M40 (middle 40%) groups.”

The research outfit questioned why MRT has not achieved its target of 250,000 passengers a day after a year of operations, adding that in March, it had only 140,000 commuters daily.

Cent-GPS said only eight of the 31 stops up to the Kajang MRT station have affordable homes nearby. – Bernama, October 31, 2018.