KUALA LUMPUR: Mass Rapid Transit Corp Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp) said Line 1 of the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit (KVMRT) project is at 52% completion and is on track to meet its deadline of December 2016, which will see the Sungai Buloh to Semantan line operational.

The completion rate is also ahead of schedule, said MRT Corp strategic communications and public relations director Amir Mahmood Razak.

“Overall, for both elevated and underground, as at the end of August, we are at 52% completion against the [expected] 49%, so we are ahead of schedule. Underground, we are way ahead at 67% completion against 64%. We are on track for our initial target of December 2016,” he told a media briefing on improved safety measures for MRT construction sites here yesterday.

He added that the underground segment and the southern sector of the line will be completed by July 2017.

As for Line 2 of the KVMRT project, he said MRT Corp is still waiting for the government’s approval.

On the recent fuel subsidy rationalisation, he said there will be no significant impact on the cost of the project.

“All of the contracts have been locked-in in terms of costs. It is unlikely for there to be any impact,” he said.

Yesterday’s briefing by MRT Corp, together with Syarikat Muhibbah Perniagaan & Pembinaan Sdn Bhd and MMC-Gamuda KVMRT (PDP) Sdn Bhd, came after a 350-tonne concrete span toppled and killed three construction workers in August at the MRT project site near Kota Damansara.

The Department of Safety and Health had been called in to investigate the matter and MRT Corp said it is still awaiting the finalisation of the former’s report.

Meanwhile, some of the safety improvements that have been introduced since the incident include tighter supervision across their sites, additional training for workers, hiring of more staff members for high-risk activities and securing spans with either permanent or temporary support at all times.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on October 9, 2014.