PETALING JAYA: The potential revival of MRT3 at half the cost is still premature to turn constructive as funding and project award procedures have yet to be finalised, said KAF-Seagroatt & Campbell Securities.

It was reported that the federal government and Gamuda Bhd have been mulling over the past few months, on reviving the MRT Line 3 (Circle Line) project at half the cost to approximately RM23bil.

In a recent sector report, KAF-Seagroatt & Campbell said the estimated cost for MRT3 could be considerably cheaper if Gamuda can successfully iron out issues that are similar to MRT2, such as fewer stations.

“We are not surprised by this latest development as we had earlier written that MRT3 has been postponed, and not scrapped.

“This is due to its strategic importance as a link between the first two MRT lines within the city centre,” it said.

However, the research house highlighted there is no clarity on how the government will fund the MRT3 project, given its lack of fiscal space following the revival of the East Coast Rail Line (ECRL) for RM44bil, and Bandar Malaysia.

“We will not rule out the possibility of seeing MRT3 being awarded under a tender exercise, as the Pakatan Harapan administration has pledged to adopt a more open and transparent policy for its infrastructure projects.

“While the government had on numerous occasions expressed its preference for higher local involvement in the country’s projects, we envisage that international contractors could also be in the mix of things, if the latter’s tender propositions are attractive.

“This is in sync with the government’s efforts to reduce the cost of major infrastructure projects,” said KAF-Seagroatt & Campbell.

It said Gamuda could once again be at the forefront of bids, if the MRT3 project is revived. Apart from its role as the Klang Valley MRT system’s original project proponents, it owns the tunneling boring machines for MRT2, which could be redeployed for MRT3.

It was also reported that the ongoing negotiations may conclude later this year, and Gamuda might seek a partner to construct MRT 3 once things are stable.

The previous plan for MRT3 was approximately 40km in length with 26 stations planned along the route.

Of the total length, 32km would be underground with an estimated number of underground stations of about 19.