URBAN TRANSPORTATION

& MRT SUMMIT

An update on progress and opportunities in
Malaysian transportation system
26 November 2013

Prince Hotel & Residence Kuala Lumpur

First of all, let me thank the organizers for inviting me

here this afternoon to deliver the keynote address on
Connecting

Malaysia

Through

Multimodal

Urban

Transportation Plans This is indeed a very important

and topical topic. I believe the first two sessions in the
morning on Moving Forward Integrated Transportation
System and The MRT Challenges, Progress and
Opportunities was deliberated well and benefitted
you all. I also strongly believe both the morning
sessions as one that imparts knowledge that does
everyone good.
Malaysia is increasingly becoming an urban nation. The
Federal Town and

Country Planning Department

estimates that in 2013, 70% of Malaysians live in urban

areas. What does this mean in absolute numbers? Well,

over 19 million people now stay in urban areas. By the
Year 2020, this will increase to 75% in percentage
terms and xx million in absolute terms.
The only way that our cities can function in a liveale
and efficient manner in such situations is to have an
efficient urban transport system. After all we all use
urban transport everyday whether to commute to and
from work, or for our social and recreational activities.
Indeed we can say that urban transport is what keeps
the city alive.
So it is no surprise that the major transport links of a
city are called arteries. As we all know the arteries in
the human body form the network through which blood
circulates to keep us alive. Just as we need to ensure
that the arteries in our body allow for the smooth
circulation of blood, so similarly we need to ensure
that the arteries in our cities allow for the smooth
circulation of people. In a very real sense therefore,
urban transport is the lifeblood of our cities.

The arteries in the human body have been created

according to Gods plans. That is why it works so
efficiently, provided of course that we take care of our
bodies. The city however is not so fortunate. We have
to rely on fallible human beings to design our urban
transport arteries and our urban transport circulation
systems. Nevertheless in the human body, we have a
good template to design an efficient urban transport
system.

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is self-evident that we need to ensure seamless
connectivity in our urban transport systems. It is
equally self-evident that for this to happen there must
and integration between transport planning and urban
planning, just as blood vessels are well integrated in
all our organs. Indeed integrated land-use transport
planning has been the Holy Grail of planners since the

1950s and like the Holy Grail, many have attempted to

find it but it has not yet been found. Unlike the human
body, where there was only one all-powerful designer,
there are a multiplicity of agencies dealing with urban
transport. Roads are the responsibility of the Ministry
of Works, the JKR, the LLM and the local authorities.
Land use planning is the responsibility of state and
local governments. Vehicle ownership policies are
determined by MITI while vehicle licensing, technical
requirements and licensing are the responsibility of the
Ministry of Transport and the JPJ. The reason I am
mentioning all this is to state the reality, that SPAD
does not have a magic wand to solve all urban
transport problems by itself.
So where does SPAD fit into this picture? The law, that
is Land Public Transport Act of 2010 gives SPAD the
responsibility and authority to plan and regulate public
transport, not transport as a whole mind you, but just
public transport. Nevertheless it is still a major
improvement from the situation before. Previously
road-based public transport and rail-based public

transport were the responsibility of different agencies

and different ministries. Now at least public transport
planning as a whole has been integrated.
As a first step, we prepared the National Land Public
Transport Master Plan. The draft was released for
public comment on our website in November 2012 and I
am happy to report that the Cabinet has approved the
Master Plan in October 2013. The National Plan sets
the targets, the strategies and the policies to guide
public transport planning throughout the country as we
go about the next stage, the preparation of the statelevel public transport master plans. It is these statelevel plans that will set out the details of the public
transport systems and projects which will have a direct
impact and benefit the rakyat. The first regional-level
plan that SPAD prepared is the Greater Kuala LumpurKlang Valley Land Public Transport Plan, which was
also approved by the Cabinet in October 2013. Even
before this plan was prepared, the Government
embarked on the MRT1 project and the LRT extension
projects because of the pressing need to improve the

public transport system in the GKL-Klang Valley Region.

The GKL-Klang Valley Master Plan confirmed that urban
rail has to form the backbone of the public transport
system in the country.
Here the Klang Valley MRT or KVMRT has an important
role to play. It is not just one of the Governments
Entry Point Project (EPP) to improve public transport in
the Greater KL / Klang Valley. It is crucial in the
realization of the targets of the Greater KL / Klang
Valley National Key Economic Areas (NKEA), which is to
achieve top 20 economic growth and be among the
global top 20 most liveable city by the year 2020. The
KVMRT is also a national project that will increase the
nations

economic

value

via

creation

of

job

opportunities.
It will give boost to Malaysias Gross National Income as
well

as

spur

property

value

appreciation.

The

development of the MRT Lines will also spur upcoming

new commercial development around KL City Centre
such as Warisan Merdeka, Tun Razak Exchange and

Cochrane Development. This will bring improved

connectivity to the City Centre and undoubtedly also
bring with it a boost in commercial activities The
underground and elevated stations will have good
linkages with the shopping centres and nearby offices.
The KVMRT project was launched in July 2011 by YAB
Prime Minister of Malaysia and MRT1 is currently on
track to be completed and operational by January 2017
(Phase 1) and July 2017 (Phase 2 fully operational).
The projected daily ridership is 619,000 (year 2020).
Just to put this in perspective the current daily
ridership of all the existing urban rail systems in the
Klang Valley, the Kelana Jaya LRT, the Ampang LRT,
KTM Kommuter and the Monorail is 600,000. So MRT1
by itself will double the ridership of urban rail systems
in the Klang Valley region.
Plans for future lines (Line 2 and Line 3), as with the
current KVMRT SBK Line will form the backbone for
KLs transportation system that will not only improve

the liveability of Greater KL, but more importantly

support the sustainability of KLs future development.
SPAD conducted a feasibility study on the KVMRT Line 2
and Line 3 that was completed in January 2013. SPAD
has also presented the results of the Feasibility Study
of

KVMRT

Line

and

Line

as

well

as

recommendations on the project implementation plan

(together with the timeline) for the Governments
approval.
However the urban rail system consists of more than
just the KVMRT. We also have other projects. The LRT
extension project is part of a plan to expand Kuala
Lumpurs public transportation network. The main
purpose of this project is to the serve the public and
relieve traffic congestion.The LRT extension project
involves extensions to the existing Kelana Jaya (KLJ)
and Ampang Line (AMG) LRTs. The length of extension
will be 17 km ( KLJ Line ) and 17.7 km ( AMG Line ).
The extension for Kelana Jaya Line will have 13
stations with 5 multi storey car parks and the extension
for Ampang Line will have 11 stations with 7 multi

storey car parks.Both the lines will meet at Putra

Heights where there will be an interchange. The LRT
extension projects are scheduled to be operational by
2016.
The Government has also embarked on a fleet
expansion project for the KL Monorail services to meet
passenger demand. Since the commencement of the KL
Monorail

Line,

passenger

volumes

have

grown

significantly from 23,995 passengers per day to a

reported 70,000 passengers in Q3 2013. Existing
ridership is at or nearing capacity and it is expected
that potential ridership that is currently re-directed
due to low level of services will come immediately to
the system as capacity rises. The capacity insufficiency
will become more critical in the near future upon
completion of several projects such as Ampang Line
Extension Project and Kelana Jaya Line Extension
Project which will increase the coverage of railway
transportation in the Klang Valley. This project
involves the complete replacement of current trains
which currently consists of 12 trains of 2 cars which

will be replaced with 12 trains of 4 cars. Stations will

also be upgraded for 11 Monorail stations with
extended platforms and replacement of the current
platform roofing membrane.
The Government has also decided to construct an
electrified double track between Subang Jaya and
Subang Skypark terminal. The length of alignment will
be 8.1 km. The objective is to provide rail connectivity
between KL City Centre to the Skypark terminal and to
boost the number of flights operating from the Subang
Airport. The project is also an initiative to upgrade the
transportation infrastructure through modernization of
rail facilities to meet future demands in passenger and
freight train services and is also part of a freight relief
line to deviate freight train from entering the town
area. The scheduled project completion for the project
is February 2017.
The Government has also provided allocation to
improve the facilities and infrastructure for KTMB
under the KTMB Enhancement initiative. The objective

of this initiative is to increase the reliability and

frequency of the KTMB commuter train services
especially during peak hours from 15 minutes to 10
minutes in the future. In addition to the procurement
of the 38 six car train sets in 2011, the Government
plans to upgrade the existing KTMB infrastructure
including

upgrading

the

tracks,

electrification,

signaling and station facilities as well as building a new

depot in Seremban. The first phase of the project will
be from Rawang to Salak Selatan.
However, we also realize that urban rail by itself will
not be enough. They have to be complemented with
other public transport modes. Bus forms an important
component of the public transport system. SPAD
surveys showed that in 2012, 52% of all public transport
users in the Klang Valley actually used the bus. So we
can safely assume that over 600,000 in the Klang Valley
people depend on buses for their daily transport needs.
This is more than the population of many our state
capitals. We have plans to rationalize and improve the
bus system in the Klang Valley and indeed the country.

In particular we would like to move from the present

farebox revenue dependent model to the gross cost
service delivery model. However this will depend on
the

necessary

allocation

being

approved.

We have not forgotten the taxi industry amidst all

these exciting projects. The GKL Klang Valley Master
Plan identifies specific roles for taxis in the future.
Taxis will serve as feeder services to and from rail and
bus stations and stops. Taxis will also serve the public
after the operating hours of bus and rail systems. Taxis
will serve as the default public transport in areas
which are not served by rail or bus. Finally, taxis will
serve as a high quality door-to-door service in the CBD
area for individual who can afford their services. SPAD
is currently drawing up the plans to bring to fruition
this vision of a high quality taxi service. It is our aim to
make taxi services in Malaysia the best in ASEAN.
Ladies and gentlemen,

But what of the other part of the land use-transport

integration equation? How are our public transport
plans going to be integrated with land use planning.
We are using a two-pronged approach. The first prong
is the administrative mechanism. We have established
State-level Public Transport Technical Committees in
all states in Peninsular Malaysia. These Committees are
chaired by the State Government with SPAD as the
Secretariat. All the relevant agencies are represented
in the Committee.
Currently

the

Committees

are

responsible

for

scrutinizing the plans for the improvement or in many

cases the revival of the bus services. In the near future
these

Committees

will

serve

as

the

Technical

Committees for the preparation of the respective

State-level master plans. However, I envisage a more
pro-active role of the Committees. Considering that all
relevant agencies are represented there, I think these
forums can serve as the mechanism to integrate land
use planning with public transport planning.

The

second

prong

is

actually

technical

or

methodological in nature. Currently there are no

practical technical guidelines in Malaysia to integrate
land use and public transport planning. I am aware that
some local authorities and
Planning

Departments

State Town and Country

are

developing

planning

guidelines for Transit Oriented Development (TOD) to

fill the void. These guidelines approach the topic from
the land use side. SPAD will complement their efforts
and is currently drafting TOD guidelines from the
public transport planning perspectives. Together these
guidelines can fill the methodological lacuna and
perhaps a start can be made to actually carry out
integrated land use- public transport planning in
Malaysia.
Ladies and gentlemen,
These efforts will require the cooperation and the
input of everyone, government agencies, professional
bodies, the private sector. These combined efforts will

eliminate duplication of roles and functions in making

the Land Public Transport a transformed commuting
mode for the rakyat. Only then can we realize our
shared vision - where our towns and cities prosper into
vibrant centres of cultural and social interaction,
where public transport truly becomes the rakyats
choice, where the quality of our public transport
system

becomes

an

attractor

for

economic

development in our cities. In short where our cities

function just like a well-functioning human body does.
I hope that you have a fruitful discussion this morning.
Thank you