KUALA LUMPUR: Mass Rapid Transit Corp Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp) chief executive officer Datuk Seri Shahril Mokhtar does not foresee significant impact on the construction costs of MRT Line 1 and Line 2.

Speaking at a press conference after the company’s Hari Raya Aidilfitri open house yesterday, he said the costs of its MRT Line 1 and Line 2 projects had not increased despite the weaker ringgit.

The construction cost of MRT Line 1, which runs between Sungai Buloh and Kajang, remains at about RM23 billion, said Shahril, adding that the cost of MRT Line 2, which runs across the Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya Line, is still between RM27 billion and RM28 billion.

“As far as civil works are concerned, we don’t have too much negative impact because it (construction materials) is locally sourced. We will be able to cushion the cost of construction for all our projects (MRT Line 1 and Line 2),” Shahril explained.

“When it comes to [the] systems, it is European based and not in US dollar, so I think we are doing quite okay,” he added.

On the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) MRT station, Shahril said construction works at the station are on track and it will be ready for operations by July 2017 — the time when MRT Line 1 starts operating.

“As far as our station is concerned, it is on track. We cannot wait until their (TRX) development is done because we are going to complete [the station], so their development has to work around our station.

“That was the understanding we had at the very beginning,” he added.

The TRX MRT station is the biggest among the seven underground MRT stations along the Sungai Buloh-Kajang route.

MRT Line 1 covers a distance of 51km with 31 stations, and can accommodate 1.2 million commuters.

Shahril also said that MRT Corp is working very closely with 1MDB Real Estate Sdn Bhd when it comes to the design and the location of the station. 1MDB Real Estate is the master developer of TRX.

This article first appeared in digitaledge Daily, on August 13, 2015.