Work in progress at an LRT extension construction site.PETALING JAYA, March 5 — Prasarana expects to raise another RM4 billion or more for the extension to its two Light Rail Transit (LRT) lines this year, group managing director Datuk Shahril Mokhtar said today.

He said the fundraising exercise is expected to be in two tranches of RM2 billion each and could possibly be via the issuance of sukuk Islamic bonds.

He added that Prasarana could be looking to raise more than RM4 billion “depending on the market”.

Shahril also said that the remaining RM2.5 billion worth of LRT extension packages are expected to be awarded within the next two months.

He said that the cost for the LRT extension, which is currently 30 per cent completed, should be within or even below the projected cost of RM7 billion.

“We are certain costs will be reduced and we are confident that the project will be within budget,” he said at a press conference here following the official launch of the LRT extension project.

Prasarana had in July last year completed a RM4 billion fundraising exercise via a sukuk programme guaranteed by the Malaysian government.

The sukuk issuances under the fundraising exercise had carried a semi-annual profit rate of between 4.15 per cent for a 10-year tranche and 5.07 per cent per annum for a 20-year tranche.

Another four work packages remain for the LRT extension, all for the Ampang Line, which are the supply of light rail vehicles, the construction of station 12, the supply and management of access cards and the engineering procurement and construction contract.

The LRT extension consists of a 17 km elevated track extending from the Kelana Jaya station to Putra Heights and a 17.7 km alignment from the Sri Petaling station to Putra Heights.

The LRT currently serves 300,000 commuters daily and Shahril said that he expects the figure to go up to 800,000 after the LRT extension is completed at the end of 2014.

The Kelana Jaya Line will see the addition of another 12 stations under the extension while the Ampang Line will get another 11 new stations.