KUALA LUMPUR — The Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, criticised former finance minister Lim Guan Eng and former DAP lawmaker Tony Pua, for failing to understand the purpose of the LRT3 project when they scaled it back after the change of government in 2018.
In a Facebook post today marking the completion of the Shah Alam LRT3 Line, Sultan Sharafuddin said the project’s investment cost was reduced under the Finance Ministry led by Guan Eng, with Pua serving as his adviser, despite the line being designed to meet the transportation needs of the rakyat.
The ruler stressed that the LRT3 was never intended to be a lavish or prestige project, but an essential public transport network aimed at improving the well-being of the people.
“When there was a change of government in 2018, the LRT3 project was delayed for more than 18 months, followed by another 19-month delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic until 2021.
“At that time, Guan Eng, together with his adviser Pua from DAP, reduced the investment cost for this project on the grounds that it was supposedly a ‘mega project’, even though they did not understand the purpose behind the construction of the LRT3 project, which was to fulfil the wishes and needs of the people.
“I wish to emphasise that this is not a mega project, nor is it a project intended for prestige, but rather a project for the interests and well-being of my people,” he said.
Sultan Sharafuddin also revealed that during Guan Eng’s tenure as finance minister, the size of every station was reduced, the number of train carriages was cut, and five proposed stations along the alignment were removed from the project’s scope.
The LRT3 project became the subject of national debate in 2018 after the Pakatan Harapan administration reviewed the rail line following its victory in the 14th General Election.
In July 2018, Guan Eng announced that the project’s estimated cost had been reduced from RM31.65 billion to RM16.63 billion through a rationalisation exercise.
The cost-cutting measures included downsizing stations, reducing the number of train sets, deferring the construction of five stations and extending the project’s completion timeline. The government said the exercise would generate savings of RM15.02 billion.
At the same time, Pua, who served as Lim’s adviser at the time, defended the rationalisation exercise, arguing that the project inherited from the previous Barisan Nasional administration was excessively expensive and that the review was necessary to ease the government’s financial burden.
The five deferred stations were Tropicana, Raja Muda, Temasya, Bukit Raja and Bandar Botanik but were subsequently reinstated by the unity government under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as part of the project’s expanded scope. – July 1, 2026