PARLIAMENT | 'Public-private partnership for new transit project'; MOT mulls harsher cable theft penalties

PARLIAMENT SNAPSHOT | What’s going on in Parliament today.

2.30pm

Transportation projects

• Transport Minister Anthony Loke has said that the elevated Autonomous Rapid Transit project will be implemented through a public-private partnership.

  A consortium comprising Konsortium DOM Industries (M) Sdn Bhd, MMC Engineering Sdn Bhd, BTS Group Holdings Public Company Limited (Bangkok), and Nilex (Malaysia) Berhad received a letter of intent on May 5, Loke (above) told the Dewan Rakyat today.

  He said financing arrangements and repayment mechanisms are still being finalised before being submitted to the cabinet for approval.

  He was responding to MCA president Wee Ka Siong (BN-Ayer Hitam), who sought an update on the project’s implementation, its funding model, and measures to address congestion ahead of the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link’s opening in January 2027.

  Loke said his ministry is expanding bus services, introducing RTS shuttle buses and demand-responsive transit, adding dedicated bus lanes, enhancing KTM rail services, and developing 35 park-and-ride sites around Johor Bahru to support the RTS Link.

Crime

• Deputy Transport Minister Hasbi Habibollah said his ministry has been mulling amendments to the Land Public Transport Act 2010 to include harsher punishments for trespassing.

  He explained that this is because railway cable theft over the past three years has cost the government RM16.3 million, involving the loss of 19,756m of cables.

  

  If there is enough time, the bill to enact the amendments will be tabled by the end of this year, he said, adding that punishments under the existing provisions are “too weak”.

  He told Ku Abd Rahman Ku Ismail (PN-Kubang Pasu) that the government intends to curb railway cable theft by installing CCTV utilising AI systems at high-risk locations identified by the Railway Assets Corporation.

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