‘Govt will not overlook public transportation’

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KOTA KINABALU: The Transport Ministry, the key driver of the National Key Result Areas (NKRA) for Urban Public Transport, will ensure that the rural community throughout the country, including Sabah and Sarawak, enjoys an efficient public transport service.

Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri said the perception that the government gave priority to urban dwellers or was ‘urban biased’ was not true.

“The proof, for example, is the east coast train service from Gemas to Tumpat which will enjoy an increase of 14 ‘blue train’ carriages from Japan and is in the process of being upgraded to increase capacity to meet the constant growing demand.

“Apart from this, work to modernise a number of train stations such as at Pasir Mas, Wakaf Baru and Gua Musang is our commitment towards this directions,” he told Bernama, here yesterday.

Abdul Rahim said a detailed study from the aspect of viability and ridership on the new east coast train route is also being undertaken by the consultant appointed on the initiative of the East Coast Economic Region(ECER) for this purpose.

He said work to modernise Sabah’s train service at a cost of RM500 million is almost complete.

“With the completion of the work, it will enable commuters to use the service to access the outskirts of Beaufort and Tenom from the capital, Kota Kinabalu, under comfortable and reliable circumstances.

“This is in line with the government’s plan and slogan for 1Malaysia services that puts the people first,” he added. — Bernama