Mass Rapid Transit Case Study

Development of Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) give a positive impact to the economy in Malaysia, but there are also have many negative effects that may occur when this project is carried out or in the future. One of the negative impact towards the economy is Mass Rapid Transit project required a very large investment of capital to build the infrastructures of MRT in the big city like Kuala Lumpur. This MRT project includes the total cost of construction, maintenance and overhead expenses for mass rapid system, safety and security.

The total costs of an MRT system consist of capital costs and operating costs. Capital costs are basically the initial investment costs including basically civil and building works, utilities and road diversions, electrical

Government must be prepared to fund most of the capital cost, as metro revenues will be not enough to meet loan repayments. Even income from associated developments for example like primarily properties at the MRT area may provide some long term support to metro revenues and even capital costs if developers can be persuaded to contribute, but it will not be enough and may add to the initial risk of the project. One of the risk is the negative perception that might arise from the residents opinions and perceptions towards MRT project.

Some of they think that this MRT project may cause the problem of land acquisition or resettlement on some area like in Sungai Buloh to Semantan and from Maluri to Kajang. The residents are wonder if this MRT project will cause some of the resident’s may be acquired and caused them to resettle at another location if their properties fell in the path of Mass Rapid Transit alignment. If these happen, the residents will lose their properties and homes around that MRT

We know that the prices for the properties around MRT area will be increases and the residents need to pay high rental. Even though having properties or staying at MRT location seems convenience to those who rely on public transportation but with the noise factor and traffic congestion, residents may be no interested to buy. They want to avoid the noise pollution and traffic congestion during peak hours.

As a conclusion, the concept of Mass Rapid Transit is designed to meet the requirement which can give benefits to the country and needs of Malaysian people. It is true that the Mass Rapid Transit can increase and encourage the economy, however there are some aspects that need to be reviewed carefully. Those aspects could be far more difficult and costly than was ever imagined in implementation phase. For example, many financial uncertainties associated with such capital-intensive projects that must be addressed with careful planning, project management and effective operational management