PRIME Minister Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak kicked-off the construction of the MRT Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya (SSP) Line by officiating the ground breaking ceremony for the project on 15 September 2016.

The ceremony, which was attended by over 300 people was held at an MRT Project worksite at Putrajaya, near the future Putrajaya Sentral MRT Station and the southern end of the SSP Line.

The ceremony officially marks the commencement of construction works for the SSP Line.

Besides the Prime Minister, others who were present at the event were Minister of Transport Dato’ Sri Liow Tiong Lai, Minister of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Dato’ Haji Abdul Rahman Dahlan, Minister of the Federal Territories Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and Suruhanjaya Pengangkutan Awam Darat Chairman Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Dr. Syed Hamid Albar.

Receiving the guests were MRT Corp Chairman Tan Sri Dr. Ali Hamsa who is also the Chief Secretary to the Government, MRT Corp Board Member Tan Sri Dr. Irwan Serigar Abdullah who is also the Secretary General of the Treasury and MRT Corp Chief Executive Officer Dato’ Sri Shahril Mokhtar.

In his speech during the event, the Prime Minister said it was an achievement that the Government is able to develop the second MRT Line five years after launching the first line, the MRT Sungai Buloh-Kajang (SBK) Line.

“We had earlier not focused enough on the development of public transport. This lack of focus has unfortunately led to us suffering some of the consequences today, with traffic congestion not only in the Klang Valley but in many cities and even highways outside this area,” he said.

The Prime Minister also congratulated all parties involved in the development of the SBK Line for being able to deliver the project on time and within the target cost.

To carry out the ground breaking ceremony, the Prime Minister had put a safety vest and helmet on bored piling machine operator Encik Kamarudin Teh, who then proceeded to get the machine ready.

The Prime Minister then pulled a lever which gave the go-ahead to Kamarudin to start boring works, symbolizing the ground breaking for the SSP Line. The Prime Minister together with the Ministers then inspected and took pictures with the bored piling machine.

MRT Corp is the project owner and developer of the SSP Line while MMC Gamuda KVMRT (PDP SSP) Sdn Bhd is the Project Delivery Partner.