DEPUTY Finance Minister Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani made his first official visit to Malaysia Rapid Transit Corporation Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp) on 4 November 2015.

The visit underscored his support and commitment for the Klang Valley MRT Project. The visit also enabled him to keep tabs on the progress of the MRT Sungai Buloh-Kajang (SBK Line) Project.

MRT Corp, the owner and developer of the Klang Valley MRT Project, is wholly owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated. The Klang Valley MRT Project is fully funded by the Government.

Upon his arrival at the company’s corporate headquarters at Bukit Damansara, Johari was received by MRT Corp Chief Executive Officer Dato’ Sri Shahril Mokhtar, Project Director SBK Line Mr Marcus Karakashian and Project Director MRT Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya (SSP) Line Dato’ Amiruddin Ma’aris.

Karakashian briefed the Deputy Finance Minister on the current progress updates of the SBK Line construction. As at 31 October 2015, construction of the SBK Line was 74.14%.

Johari was informed that the line was on schedule for Phase One operations between the Sungai Buloh and Semantan Stations by the end of 2016, followed by the rest of the line in July 2017.

Amiruddin then presented an update on the SSP Line which received the final approval from the Government in October 2015.

He shared the findings of the Public Inspection exercise, a mandatory requirement under the Land Public Transport Act 2010. The Public Inspection exercise too place between 15 May 2015 and 17 August 2015 and saw more than 10,000 feedbacks submitted by members of the public.

Amiruddin also showed Johari the “hotspots” along the line where MRT Corp expected issues to be raised by stakeholders at those locations with regards to the Project.

One of the locations was the Ampang Park Shopping Centre, where MRT Corp is engaged with discussions with its owners to secure a mutual agreement to enable the MRT tunnel and an underground walkway to be built beneath the building.

The issues surrounding the shopping centre was of interest to Johari because it was within the Titiwangsa Parliamentary constituency where he is Member of Parliament.

Before the end of the visit, Johari was brought to the MRT Gallery where he got to view a scaled model of MRT stations, guideways, trains and parking facilities. He also tried the MRT train seats at the live-sized replica of a section of the train car in the gallery.