KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 — In a rebuttal to an opinion piece published yesterday, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong has stressed that the decision to revert the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project to a northern alignment in Selangor was to maximise the project’s economic and technical benefits.
In a statement today, Wee said the opinion piece, published on Free Malaysia Today was wrong to suggest that the re-alignment — dubbed the ECRL 3.0 alignment — was a political move to sway voters in constituencies such as Gombak, Kapar and Klang.
“Some people may assume that continuing with the southern alignment may be cheaper.
“However, it in fact prevents the entire project from becoming a true integrator and hub for the various economic regions of Peninsular Malaysia and catalysing significant growth and new investments in manufacturing, construction, and property development among others,” he said.
Wee said the northern alignment — going through Gombak and Serendah — is expected to see 26 million tonnes of cargo freight and five million passengers per year in its first year of operation.
Meanwhile the southern alignment — via Negri Sembilan and Putrajaya — forecast is only nine million tonnes of cargo and four million passengers during the same period.
He further said that ECRL 3.0 will relieve a rail bottleneck in Kuala Lumpur’s central business district (CBD), and improve public safety as Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) cargo regularly contains hazardous materials travelling through the KL Sentral and Bank Negara stations.
“Ultimately, the new ECRL 3.0 alignment aims to complement the establishment of a national cargo hub in Serendah and improve cargo moving efficiency for both KTMB and ECRL. This is important because 70 per cent of ECRL revenue will be derived from freight transport,” he said.
He added that if the previously planned southern alignment were built, the government would then need to take up a separate project — the Serendah Bypass project — to solve the rail bottleneck issue in Kuala Lumpur’s CBD.
This, he said, would cause more environmental harm.
“Some 95 per cent of water catchment areas in Selangor will be impacted by the southern alignment and Serendah Bypass if built separately, compared to 65 per cent under the northern alignment,” he said.
He also emphasised that the ECRL 3.0 alignment would spur commercial activities around its future stations in “relatively new areas” like Puncak Alam and Kapar, while a station in IIT Gombak will act as a hub connecting Klang Valley commuters through the ECRL and also to other Light Rail Transit (LRT) and KTMB stations.
It was previously reported that the original northern ECRL alignment by the Barisan Nasional (BN) government would cost RM65.5 billion, at least RM20 billion more than the southern alignment planned by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government at RM44 billion.
The Perikatan Nasional (PN) government has proposed to re-align the ECRL back through northern Selangor, but the Selangor executive council has maintained a stance rejecting the proposal.
Last week, Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd (MRL) chairman Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali said Selangor’s decision is causing the government to incur RM1.25 million losses a day, and may delay the scheduled overall completion of the project by December 2026.
