The cost of the LRT3 project had ballooned from RM9 billion in 2015 to the recent figure of RM31.65 billion because Prasarana needlessly expanded the scope of the project in the intervening years, a Finance Ministry source has claimed.

"Along the way, the requirements and specifications were oversized, over-designed and unnecessarily accelerated.

“Examples include benchmarking the LRT stations to MRT size, luxury finishing, iconic designs, tripling train capacity compared to feasibility studies, and building tunnels and underground stations at low-ridership locations...