Malaysia planning ways to ease JB congestion after RTS Link is ready

The Malaysian government is looking to build a light rail transit (LRT) or a tram-bus network in Johor Bahru and its surrounding districts, in a move to ease congestion once the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link from Woodlands is completed.

- Zunaira Saieed and Harith Mustaffa

KUALA LUMPUR - The Malaysian government is looking to build a light rail transit (LRT) or a tram-bus network in Johor Bahru and its surrounding districts, in a move to ease congestion once the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link from Woodlands is completed. This will also improve the Johor state capital's public transport links for its residents, visitors and workers.

The federal government plans to invite the private sector to submit proposals within the next four months on how either of the networks would be built, Johor's state executive councillor for works, transportation and infrastructure Mohamad Fazli Mohamad Salleh told The Straits Times.

"The timeline given to us by the government for initiation of the Request for Proposal exercise is the second quarter of this year," he said.

This will help to evaluate the feasibility of two projects - LRT and an elevated, driverless tram-bus system called the autonomous rapid transit (ART) that runs on virtual tracks across bridges and viaducts. The two networks could cost around RM20 billion (S$6.1 billion) and RM7 billion, respectively, he noted.

The ensuing project could be funded privately in full, or be a government-private sector collaboration, said Mr Fazli.

If the LRT line is built in southern Johor state, it would be the third in Malaysia, after the one in the Klang Valley region around Kuala Lumpur, and the Penang LRT system that had its ground-breaking ceremony in January.