KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 22): Mass Rapid Transit Corp Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp) said it will now proceed with the construction of the Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya Line (MRT Line 2), which is the second line of the Klang Valley mass rapid transit project,  after receiving final approval from the government today.

In a statement today, MRT Corp said Phase 1 of MRT Line 2 between Sungai Buloh and Kampung Batu is expected to be operational by July 2021, while the remaining section between Kampung Batu and Putrahaya Sentral will be operational under Phase 2 by July 2022.

When fully operational, it also expects MRT Line 2 to have a ridership of more than 500,000 passengers per day.

MRT Corp said it has received a letter from the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) informing of the final approval of MRT Line 2 which contains, among others, the final alignment and station locations of the SSP Line.

"The final alignment saw some minor tweaking at two locations at Kuchai Lama and Sungai Besi to minimise the impact from land acquisition and to enable optimisation of usage of the remaining land after acquisition.

"The government also decided that an additional elevated station should be constructed near Technology Park Malaysia (TPM) between stations S25 at Sungai Besi and S26 at Serdang Raya North. Besides serving TPM, this new station’s catchment area will also include many future development projects in the Sungai Besi area," it added.

With the additional station, MRT Line 2 will now have 37 stations. Of these, 25 stations will be elevated stations, 11 stations will be underground, and one “half-sunken” where it will be built on the ground below the current level.

The MRT Line 2 will also integrate with the future Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high speed rail.

"The overall length of the final alignment also remains unchanged at 52.2km, of which 38.7km will elevated and 13.5km will be underground. The underground section of the alignment will be between Jalan Ipoh and Kuchai Lama," said MRT Corp.

In May, MRT Corp chief executive officer Datuk Seri Shahril Mokhtar said MRT Line 2 is likely to cost over RM30 billion.