KUALA LUMPUR: Mass Rapid Transit Corp Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp) has to date spent RM9.7 billion on the MRT Sungai Buloh-Kajang Line (Line 1) project, said its chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Wira Azhar Abdul Hamid, dismissing claims that it has spent RM23 billion.

He said of the RM9.7 billion total expenditure, RM8.07 billion was paid to work package contractors and RM1.2 billion to project delivery partners.

Independent consulting engineer fees amounted to RM139.5 million, while MRT Corp’s project supervision and overheads cost RM182.3 million, he added.

“I am very concerned when people say that MRT Corp has incurred RM23 billion of expenditure. I have to speak up because it is incorrect,” he told a press briefing on the status update of the MRT project yesterday.

Azhar said MRT Corp is “doing pretty well” in managing variation orders, noting that it stood at RM200.9 million as at Oct 31, 2014, or 0.96% of the RM21.02 billion awarded amount so far.

Azhar also said the company has yet to receive a formal request from Sime Darby Bhd to extend its MRT Line 1 to connect to the latter’s 2,023.4ha City of Elmina township near Sungai Buloh in Selangor.

It was reported that Sime Darby was planning to submit a request for a line extension from Sungai Buloh to its development located along the Guthrie Corridor Expressway.

“We have not received anything formally. No formal letter and no formal request,” he added.

MRT Line 1, which stretches 51km, will connect 31 stations from Sungai Buloh to Kajang. The finalised name of each station has been approved by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Azhar said the progress of the MRT Line 1 construction had reached 55.21% as at Oct 31, exceeding the company’s target of 54.15% completion.

He noted that there are seven tenders left to be awarded for MRT Line 1, which are worth less than RM250 million. Of the seven tenders, two tenders are currently being called, while the remaining five are in the preparation stage.

To date, 78 work packages have been awarded with a total value of RM21.02 billion.

On MRT Line 2, Azhar said the proposed alignment connecting Sungai Buloh to Putrajaya via Serdang is expected to be finalised in August next year.

He said once the Land Public Transport Commission and MRT Corp have agreed on the alignment plan, both parties have to gather public opinion on the proposed alignment via a public display process.

“Then we can approach the government for final approval, which will make it an official approved railway scheme” he said.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on November 27, 2014.