In a statement today, MRT Corp said Phase 1 of SSP Line between Sungai Buloh and Kampung Batu is expected to be operational by July 2021, while the remaining section between Kampung Batu and Putrajaya Sentral will be operational under Phase 2 by July 2022.
The SSP Line will add significantly to the urban rail coverage in the Klang Valley and will serve a corridor with a population of two million people by providing them with a modern, efficient, reliable and safe public transport service.
When fully operational, it also expects SSP Line to have a ridership of more than 500,000 passengers per day.
MRT Corp said it has received a letter from the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) informing of the final approval of SSP Line which contains, among others, the final alignment and station locations of the line.
The approval is given pursuant to Section 84 of the Land Public Transport Act 2010, the statement said.
The final approval comes after the completion of the three-month public inspection of the proposed SSP Line between May 15 and August 17 when booths were set up at 26 locations along the proposed alignment.
As required by the Act, all feedback and objections to the proposed alignment received during the public inspection were forwarded to the government as part of the approval process.
An estimated 40,000 people have visited the public inspection booths and over 10,500 people submitted feedback, of which 90% had expressed support for the construction of the SSP Line.
After an analysis of the feedback, the final approval was given without any major modification to the earlier proposed SSP Line alignment that was displayed during the public inspection, MRT Corp said.
“The final alignment (only) saw some minor tweaking at two locations at Kuchai Lama and Sungai Besi to minimise the impact from land acquisition and to enable optimisation of usage of the remaining land after acquisition.
“The government also decided that an additional elevated station should be constructed near Technology Park Malaysia (TPM) between stations S25 at Sungai Besi and S26 at Serdang Raya North. Besides serving TPM, this new station’s catchment area will also include many future development projects in the Sungai Besi area,” it added.
The increase in the area of coverage with this additional station will result in an increase in ridership levels, the statement said.
Proposed location of Technology Park Malaysia (TPM) MRT Station.
The new TPM MRT Station is planned to be located just on the fringe of the Kuala Lumpur-Seremban Expressway and next to Wisma Scope International.
The potential ridership catchment for the new station includes the upcoming campus of the Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU) and Majlis Amanah Rakyat’s (Mara)’s “Edu-Biz Park” worth RM1.3 billion. Both are located within the grounds of TPM.
Several property projects that are expected to benefit from the location of this new station include Maju Kuala Lumpur by Maju Group, Parkhill Residence in Bukit Jalil by Aset Kayamas Sdn Bhd and an upcoming mixed development by Briswood Sdn Bhd.
Diversified Maju Group’s Maju Kuala Lumpur is an upcoming integrated development set in seven 38-storey blocks, consisting of 4,214 units of duplex apartments and a 850,000 square feet commercial retail podium. The massive development is planned to be connected to a proposed new KTM station as well as the TPM MRT station.
With the additional station, SSP Line will now have 37 stations. Of these, 25 stations will be elevated stations, 11 stations will be underground, and one “half-sunken” where it will be built on the ground below the current level.
The total count of 37 stations excluded the starting station as the Sungai Buloh MRT station will be built under MRT Sungai Buloh-Kajang Line (SBK Line), or the first MRT line.
With the SSP Line, people living along the alignment will get direct and efficient access to the Golden Triangle of Kuala Lumpur.
The SSP Line will also integrate with the future Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) project in Bandar Malaysia, an upcoming mega township project spearheaded by 1Malaysia Development Board (1MDB).
Converging rail networks in Bandar Malaysia would create the much needed catalyst for the development of real estate there as well as creating a new destination on its own for passengers arriving with the HSR.
A passenger would then be able to travel directly to Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) and Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) from Bandar Malaysia or interchanging at TRX to proceed to Bukit Bintang.
The SSP Line will also see a more direct route for commuters from Putrajaya, Cyberjaya and Serdang to Kuala Lumpur and reduce the expected end-to-end travel time from 100 minutes to 84 minutes.
“The overall length of the final alignment also remains unchanged at 52.2km, of which 38.7km will elevated and 13.5km will be underground. The underground section of the alignment will be between Jalan Ipoh and Kuchai Lama,” said MRT Corp.
In May, MRT Corp chief executive officer Datuk Seri Shahril Mokhtar said SSP Line is likely to cost over RM30 billion.
For the SBK Line, phase one will begin operations by the end of next year, while the remainder of the line will begin operations under phase two by 31 July 2017.
Similarly to SBK Line, a joint venture company between MMC Corp Bhd and Gamuda Bhd has been appointed as the project delivery partner (PDP) to implement the SSP Line project.
Pre-qualification exercises to shortlist prospective tenderers for the elevated works, stations and underground works for SSP Line begins this quarter, Q4 2015, with the first award to be announced in Q1 next year.
In November 2014, MRT Corp, which is the developer and owner of Kuala Lumpur’s MRT lines, has appointed Arup Jururunding Sdn Bhd as the design consultant for the underground stations of SSP Line.
Eventually, both MRT lines will be operated by government-owned public transport company, Prasarana Malaysia Bhd.
The current proposal for MRT SSP Line has been approved by the government.