Parliamentarians from Pakatan Rakyat, whose constituencies are situated along the proposed Mass Rapid Transit lines, have urged Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to issue a temporary stop work order.

There was no proper consultation with residents in the vicinity of the proposed stations, the lawmakers said, apart from what they claimed were murky deals with project delivery partner (PDP), Gamuda-MMC.

"The feedback period is supposed to be till April 15, but the tenders will be open from next month.

"So, we are concerned whether public feedback will be taken into account, or is it just for show? And if the people are not happy with the plans, will they amend?" asked Petaling Jaya MP Tony Pua.

Any changes made later on, Pua pointed out, would involve millions of ringgit in variation order costs.

NONE The MPs for Segambut and Subang, Lim Lip Eng and R Sivarasa, who were also present, said opposition MPs were shut out of the feedback and town hall sessions.

Sivarasa said he and Bukit Lanjan assemblyperson Elizabeth Wong were not informed about these sessions, and that he only found out about the detailed MRT plans during a full board meeting of the Petaling Jaya City Council.

Lim chipped in: "The city council did not invite me, despite the residents having asked the Land Public Transport Commission (Spad) to do so. But I still went anyway, lah."

Kuala Lumpur also does not have the proper soil structure to support the MRT system, said Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar, quoting an engineering consultant.

"Back in May 2010 at a City Hall forum on ‘Friendly Transportation Systems', an MP had asked a consultant from engineering group IJN, who was representing the government, if it was possible to implement an MRT project.

"The engineer went on record to say that KL would not be able to support it because of its soil structure.

"Crucial questions must be answered. Why then the change in government stand in less than a year?" Nurul Izzah asked.

Bandar Utama station does not make sense

But at the press conference in Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya, this morning, the biggest bone of contention for the lawmakers was the location of the station there.

NONE With the Bandar Utama station projected to be the fifth busiest of the 35 proposed stations, it would still be 1km away from the bus terminal currently catering to shuttle, feeder, express, stagecoach and inter-city buses.

The existing plan is for the station is to be built in front of the Media Prima headquarters in Sri Pentas, along the Damansara-Puchong Highway (LDP). Media Prima owns, among other things, TV3 and the NSTP group.

"The integration is particularly important since buses are expected to be the key mode of transport for the dispersal of such a high passenger volume.

"What we will face from this is that buses and private vehicles will crowd all roads leading to the MRT stations to pick up and drop off passengers," Pua said.

"In addition, the ability of the station to achieve the 46,900 passengers target is also severely compromised by the fact that there are no public parking facilities, except at the 1Utama shopping mall and One World Hotel. This means there won't be space for a full day's parking."

Also, said Lim, the residents' association in the affluent neighbourhood of Taman Tun Dr Ismail opposes any station in that area.

"They don't want to have anything to do with an MRT station, at all," added Lim, who represents the locality.

The MRT project was initially estimated to cost RM36 billion (for construction alone), but the latest estimate by banking and financial group CIMB shows that it may exceed RM50 billion, Pua said.

NONE Asked what their next course of action would be if the project was not stopped, Pua joked: "Then 100,000 people will demonstrate in the streets.

"But seriously, we just want the people to be aware of what the government is doing."

The MRT is the biggest-ever infrastructure project in Malaysia conceived by the Najib administration under his Economic Transformation Plan.

Construction of the 60km rail line from Sungai Buloh to Kajang - the first phase of the MRT - is expected to begin in July and is scheduled for completion in 2015.

After this, the government is expected to build two more MRT lines, with a 2020 deadline in mind to cater to a projected 3.2 million rail passengers.