Prasarana has indicated that it will announce the latest developments regarding the LRT3 Shah Alam Line next month. According to its president and CEO Amir Hamdan, the company will hold a press conference to provide updates on the project in April, as the Malay Mail reports.
He did not indicate when the start of operations would be, but said that the fault-free run (FFR) tests for the third train set, involving eight trains, are now at the final stage.
“I cannot confirm the exact date (for operations to begin) yet, as everything depends on the safety assessor’s decision. If they agree and there are no safety issues or other outstanding matters, only then can we make an official announcement on the commencement of LRT3 operations,” he said.
Last month, transport minister Anthony Loke said that the line is expected to begin operations by June, but he expressed his confidence that the line could be ready from as early as April.
The rail line had originally been slated to start operations on September 30 last year, but in August it was announced that the project had been delayed. In November, the government was said to be keeping to its target of December 31 for the launch of the line, but it was then announced in December that operations would not begin in 2025. The delay was put down to outstanding system stability and software issues identified during the testing and commissioning phase.
Separately, the delay is set to cost the main contractor quite a bit in terms of liquidated and ascertained damages (LAD) Previously, it was reported that the compensation rate is RM2.73 million – or 0.024% of the contract value – per delayed day. As of December 31, 2025, this adds up to RM474.9 million, according to Loke.
“If calculated from the end of extension of time (EOT) on July 10, 2025, the number of days delayed up to Dec 31, 2025 is 174. This means the contractor is contractually liable for LAD of RM474,894,729,” he told the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
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Of course, there are always these individual critics who complain a lot about the delays, but they most likely may not understand that these APAD requested FFR tests are so important for LRT3’s safe operation, especially when the safety of the public who ride as passengers, are concerned. Probably, these very same individual critics have also forgotten about the May 2021 Kelana Jaya line LRT train collision which injured 200+ passengers, and this is the kind of incident which the transport ministry, APAD, Prasarana & its contractor MRCB want to avoid. So, do these individual critics expect the ministry, APAD, Prasarana & MRCB take a ‘short cut’ with the FFR tests to avoid these delays & just hope for the best?
And then, when an incident later occurs & it was linked to the above-mentioned ‘short cut’, will these very same individual critics then cry ‘Scandal!’ & blame the ministry, APAD, Prasarana & MRCB for not properly completing these important FFR tests despite the delays?
Fire Loke and all transportation problems will be solved.
He represents the shareholder of Prasarana and the shareholder can’t be fired.
Have the relevant parties taken all the needed measures to avoid disruption due to cable theft happened on MRT lines?
Timeline of the projects completion by the relevant project deliveries shd have been duly accomplished from beginning to overcome duress on unnecessary delay.