KUCHING, 27 Nov: Phase 1 of the Kuching Urban Transportation System (KUTS) project currently stands at 14.43 percent completion.
Similarly, Ministry of Transport Sarawak, Dato Sri Lee Kim Shin said the groundwork for the Rembus Depot progress is at 33.54 percent, eyeing a completion in the first quarter of 2024.
“The capital expenditure has reached RM403.43 million, reflecting the financial commitment to advancing this transformative project,” Lee said in his ministerial winding-up speech at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) today.
He added that several other tenders for KUTS Phase 1 project are at various stages while the tender for Rembus Depot and Associated Works was closed in September.
“Subsequently, the tender for Red Line Package 1, including the scope of works for Autonomous Rapid Transit (ART) lane, stations, systems and utility works from Kuching Sentral to Pending was closed on October 2023,” he added.
Additionally, Lee remarked that the ART Engineering Run at Isthmus concluded on November 5th, following which the prototype ART vehicle, was mobilised to Samarahan for the continuation of the Proof-of-Concept (POC) exercise which commenced on November 20.
“This exercise provides an opportunity to assess the viability of the system in an actual operational environment as it simulates the testing conditions for the future ART dedicated double lane under the KUTS project’s Blue Line and Transit Signal Priority (TSP) at the juction.
He added the POC Exercise on the dedicated 2.6 kilometre lane along the Kuching-Samarahan Expressway is expected to conclude by the end of this year.
At the same time, works on Blue Line Package 1 from Rembus to Riveria will commence on 1st December 2023 while commencement of works on Red Line from Kuching Sentral to Pending will begin in the first quarter of next year. -TVS
