MRT Corp: Possible delay to Bukit Bintang station but project on track -
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 29 — MRT Corp may have to delay the opening of its Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) train station in Bukit Bintang due to slower work progress in the city's shopping district, its chief executive officer Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid said today.
But Azhar said the public would still be able to use the first phase of the multi-billion track, scheduled to be completed by December 2016, as it could temporarily skip Bukit Bintang if the latter was not finished yet.
"But that doesn't mean the opening of the first line, the MRT first line, will be delayed.
"The worst-case scenario is the line will be operating without the Bukit Bintang station, which means for a period there is a possibility that the train will pass by Bukit Bintang," Azhar said during a panel discussion on Greater Kuala Lumpur, one of the government's National Key Economic Area (NKEA).
When admitting that progress of the MRT construction in Bukit Bintang was slow, Azhar attributed it to "initial resistance" from property owners there and the 13th general elections.
"Unfortunately for us, it was also election time so there was a lot of appeals that were made to the prime minister. The prime minister took everybody's views into account and basically requested us to try and look at ways and means to find alternative ways of achieving the same thing," he said.
He explained that MRT Corp had merely intended to facilitate its construction work when moving to acquire land in Bukit Bintang.
"Of course when we wanted the shoplots, the concern for us was to have better worksite, work area so that we can complete the development, the station of Bukit Bintang as quickly as possible and get out.
"But because now we had to compromise, we have landed ourselves in a situation where we are working in a very limited working area, the construction is actually taking longer than required," he added.
http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia...roject-on-track