KUALA LUMPUR: Mass Rapid Transport Corp Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp), which is fully owned by Ministry of Finance Inc, aims to cut the cost of private land acquisitions for the RM23 billion Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya MRT project (Line 2) through mutual agreements with landowners.

Project director Amiruddin Maaris told reporters that MRT Corp, which managed to save RM1.6 billion from the RM3 billion that was initially set aside for the acquisition of 23 properties along the 51km stretch in the ongoing MRT Sungai Buloh-Kajang (Line 1) project, hopes to repeat its cost-saving feat.

“We will try to engage with the landowners to seek mutual agreements where our tunnels will run below ground without us having to acquire their property. Land acquisitions are very expensive and we want to minimise the cost,” he said after a media briefing on Line 2’s Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (DEIA) yesterday.

Line 2’s DEIA report is now on exhibition until May 19 in 27 locations while the railway scheme public display featuring the alignment will take place between May 15 and Aug 17.

Amiruddin said MRT Corp had not factored in the actual acquisition cost for about 23% of Line 2’s 52.2km stretch (or 521 private properties along the line) into the project’s costing because the Valuation and Property Services Department has yet to determine the quantum of land rates.

But even with the new Line 2 alignment option, which reduces the presence of rail above ground and potentially lower the cost of land acquisitions, Amiruddin said the full cost of the project can only be confirmed once the detailed design and stations are finalised.

“Underground work can cost five times more than elevated portions [but] coupled with the opportunity to have mutual agreements ... the gap can only be established with the finalisation of the alignment,” he said.

Amiruddin said the new alignment option for Line 2, which has been submitted to the Department of Environment (DoE) for approval, is to include 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB)’s Bandar Malaysia land and to link up the system with the future Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail terminal.

The proposed alignment also bypasses populated zones such as Cheras and Pandan. MRT Corp had previously said it would consider including them in the Line 3 route.

Amiruddin’s announcement yesterday came after MRT Corp had refuted the opposition’s claims earlier this month that it needed to acquire land in Bandar Malaysia from 1MDB at inflated prices, hence potentially bailing out the debt-laden fund.

Bandar Malaysia is 1MDB’s yet-to-be-developed property project, which the proposed Line 2 is to pass through. MRT Corp had said then that Line 2 would be underground at this location and given that the land belonged to a government-owned entity (1MDB), it was likely that it would take the approach of a mutual agreement, similar to what it did for Line 1.

Yesterday, MRT Corp strategic communications and public relations director Mahmood Abdul Razak clarified that under the mutual agreement, landowners waive their right to claim the land below a certain level underground.

He said according to land titles, landowners possess the rights to the space below ground, which could extend to the earth’s core. But with the agreement, the owners waive that right.

“We expect to obtain approval from DoE for our DEIA in the third quarter of this year and anticipate the federal government’s approval for the alignment in the fourth quarter of this year,” Amiruddin said.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on April 30, 2015.