Introduction

The Klang Valley MRT project involves the construction of a rail-based public transport network which, together with the existing RapidKL light rail transit (LRT), KL Monorail, KTM Komuter, KLIA Ekspres and KLIA Transit systems, form the backbone of the Greater Kuala Lumpur / Klang Valley region.

The project was approved by the Government in December 2010. The first KL MRT line to be implemented was the 51km Sungai Buloh-Kajang line. Construction of the line was officially launched on 8 July 2011 by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, YAB Dato' Sri Mohd Najib Bin Tun Abdul Razak. The MRT project was initially proposed to the Government by a private-sector consortium in early 2010. The proposal was for the construction of three MRT lines.

The Government conducted a study on the proposal and approved the implementation of the Sungai Buloh-Kajang line first. The Government decided to implement the other two lines after further studies are done on the proposed alignment in conjunction with the Greater Kuala Lumpur / Klang Valley Land Public Transport Masterplan being drawn up by the Suruhanjaya Pengangkutan Awam Darat.

The Klang Valley MRT project was also made an Entry Point Project of the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) under the Greater Kuala Lumpur / Klang Valley National Key Economic Area (NKEA). The ETP is being implemented by the The Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) of the Prime Minister's Department.

With the Klang Valley MRT, the target having 50% of all journeys in the Greater Kuala Lumpur / Klang Valley region to be on public transport can be achieved.