KUALA LUMPUR, March 1 — In yet another milestone, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak launched tunnelling works for the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya (SSP) Line with the use of a tunnel boring machine (TBM) today.
The TBM is the first of the 12 to be used for the project starting at the Bandar Malaysia North Launching Shaft at Bandar Malaysia.
The Bandar Malaysia North Station at today’s event location will be one station away from the future Bandar Malaysia South MRT Station, which will integrate with the future Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail.
With a turn of a key and a press of a button on console, Najib launched the TBM as the siren wailed and the cutter head of the TBM in the launching shaft nearby rotated.
Following the launch, Najib had proceeded to view the TBM from the viewing deck at the edge of the launching shaft.
Also present at the launch were MRT Corporation Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp) Chairman and chief secretary to the government Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa, and ministers, including Transport minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiang Lai, Federal Territories minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tenku Mansor, and Minister in the Prime Minister’s department Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan and Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri.
Speaking after the launch, Liow said the MRT SSP Line, which is now at 22 per cent completion, is right in schedule and will give a bigger impact for the public in terms of connectivity in public transportation.
Commenting on then MRT fare, Liow said it will always remain competitive at a low rate.
“Our fare is low because the government put in a lot of support to the projects.
“We want to create a user friendly environment to have more people use public transportation and achieve the 40 per cent target in public transportation mode by 2020,” he told reporters.
Today’s TBM was the first ever to undergo refurbishment in Malaysia, which was previously used for the first time in the world for construction of the MRT Sungai Buloh-Kajang (SBK) Line.
The TMB, which is a result of the cooperation between MMC Gamuda and world renowned TBM manufacturer Herrenknecht AG of Germany, was refurbished at the first and only TBM refurbishment facility in South-east Asia in Pusing, Perak, run by Waiko Engineering Sdn Bhd.
The Variable Density TBM was designed specifically to handle tunneling through the challenging limestone geological formation in the Klang Valley.
The SSP Line is the second line to be constructed under the Klang Valley MRT Project, which will have 35 stations, of which 11 are underground stations.
The entire alignment will be 52.2km long, of which 13.5km will be underground, running from Sungai Buloh to Putrajaya through Kepong, Batu, Jalan lpoh, Titiwangsa, KLCC, Tun Razak Exchange, Bandar Malaysia, Sungai Besi, Serdang, UPM and Cyberjaya.
Phase One of MRT SSP Line from Sungai Buloh to Kampung Batu is expected to be operational by the second quarter of 2021 , while the line is expected to be fully operational by the second quarter of 2022.
The MRT SSP Line is capable of carrying 529,000 passengers daily.
Mass Rapid Transit Corporation Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp) is the Project Owner and Developer of the SSP Line while MMC Gamuda KVMRT (T) Sdn Bhd is the Underground Works Contractor for the SSP Line.
