KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 3 ― PKR’s Rafizi Ramli today revealed that rail link operator Prasarana Malaysia Berhad was financially weak and that its situation will get worse once it takes over the management of all three Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) lines in the country.

Showing a balance sheet of the company, which he obtained from the Companies Commission, Rafizi pointed that Prasarana had incurred a debt amount of more than RM18 billion as of 2015.

"With Prasarana's current financial standing, the acquisition of the operations and debt from MRT Corp will only deteriorate its condition.

"There are chances that by 2022, Prasarana's debts may go beyond RM70 billion and will involve an annual interest payment of RM2 billion,” he told a news conference.

If such a situation were to arise, the Pandan MP said that ordinary Malaysians would definitely be affected through a possible increase in train fares.

Being a government affiliated company, Rafizi said that the government will bear the brunt of Prasarana's losses.

He claimed that in 2013, the government had pumped in RM2.2 billion to ease Prasarana's debts.

Citing reports from Ratings Agency Malaysia (RAM), Rafizi said the operationational cost of Prasarana in 2015 had risen by 30 per cent more than its earnings from 2014.

"Between 2013 and 2016, Prasarana saw its debt increase more than RM10 billion,” he added.

On the cost of the MRT project, Rafizi remained adamant about the total cost exceeding more than RM100 billion.

Without dwelling much into details, he showed a 2015 national newswire Bernama story that reported a special purpose vehicle for the project, DanaInfra Nasional Berhad (DanaInfra) as saying that the estimated cost of the second MRT line to be around RM42 billion.

"If you add the current line 1 that is RM28 billion including consultation fee and MRT 2 and, MRT 3 which costs is yet to be known, the total cost should exceed RM100 billion.

"Hence, I refuse to argue with BN's cyber troopers when current documented reports suggests the cost [of this project] to be around my prediction,” he said.

MRT Corp had said that the final cost of the entire MRT project has yet to be finalised, amid Rafizi’s claim that it would exceed RM100 billion.

While the cost for the Sungai Buloh-Kajang (SBK) line has been announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to be RM21 billion, RM2 billion lesser than its initial estimated cost, MRT Corp said the estimated construction cost for the second line, the Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya (SSP), was RM32 billion.

The cost of the third line, also known as Circle line, is yet to be finalised.

The first phase of the SBK line, which connects Semantan and Sungai Buloh, commenced its operation last month.