KUCHING, May 22 — The Sarawak state government said today it will finance the Light Rail Transit (LRT) project covering Kuching, Samarahan and Serian without direct funding from the federal government.

"The cost of the proposed LRT has not been finalised yet,” Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Openg said in his winding up speech in the state legislative assembly today.

He said the full public transport system covering the three divisions will be an integrated one, with the LRT as the core and complemented by the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), taxis and cars.

He stressed that the key benefit of building a proper public transport system was lower cost of living, with affordable housing combined with cheap public transport.

"We will build communities around the stations of the LRT and BRT, with schools, food courts and commercial centres,” he said.

The chief minister said the LRT will be developed in stages to serve as triggers for the development and growth of Kuching and its surrounding areas.

In the long term, he said he could envisage Greater Kuching area to encompass not just Kota Samarahan and Padawan, but also Bako, Damai, Lundu, Bau, and Serian.

"The centre of that public transport system is the Kuching International Airport with connections to various parts of Kuching City itself,” he added.

Abang Johari said if the state government does not start building the LRT now, the land cost will increase in future.

"I am talking on the advice of my planners who have been working on this since early this year and also based on the study that has been done by experts from Hong Kong and Singapore on the construction of the public transport system,” he said.