PM Najib Opens Pedestrian Walkway From KLCC To Bukit Bintang

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Najib Razak on Saturday officially opened the pedestrian walkway that provides a direct link from Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) to commercial area Bukit Bintang, offering comfortable convenience to the public to walk between the city’s two major retail and tourism spots. Present at the opening ceremony were Federal Territories and Urban Well-Being Minister Senator Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and Chairman of the Performance Management & Delivery Unit (PEMANDU) Senator Dr Koh Tsu Koon, Kuala Lumpur Mayor Ahmad Fuad Ismail, Petroliam Nasional Bhd (PETRONAS) Executive Vice President (Gas & Power Business) Anuar Ahmad, KLCC (Holdings) Sdn Bhd (KLCCH) Chairman Harry Menon and KLCCH Group Chief Executive Officer Hashim Wahir. Fully air-conditioned, the 562-metre long, five-metre wide elevated walkway traverses through the busy areas of Jalan Pinang, Jalan Perak and Jalan Raja Chlan with escalator and staircase entry and exit points at strategic and convenient locations. Developed in phases, the elevated walkway forms a major portion of 1.173 km of pedestrian linkages connecting KLCC to Bukit Bintang. The walkway links the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre to the Impiana KLCC Hotel and the hotel to the Pavilion bridge crossing at Bukit Bintang. The other portion is made up of a pedestrian tunnel from the concourse level of the convention centre which now links to the existing tunnel to the Suria KLCC shopping complex. With the linkages, members of the public can now travel on foot from Bukit Bintang and the Raja Chulan Monorail Station to the KLCC LRT Station - via Suria KLCC - in the cool comfort of the air-conditioned covered walkway and tunnels. For the disabled, they can access and exit the walkway via special elevators at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. The construction of the walkway and the tunnel was financed by a RM100 million (US$32.9 milion) fund provided by PETRONAS as part of its social contribution. The project is part of a series of walkways to link the Retail and Tourism Trail between KLCC and Bukit Bintang under the government’s Greater Kuala Lumpur/Klang Valley National Key Economic Areas’ Comprehensive Pedestrian Network Initiative. The aim of the initiative is to encourage more Malaysians to use public transport to travel to Kuala Lumpur by providing safe and comfortable walkways for them to traverse between places when they are in the city. The project was undertaken by KLCCH, a subsidiary of PETRONAS in collaboration with the Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (Kuala Lumpur City Hall). The walkway and tunnels also complement a comprehensive plan for pedestrian connectivity which is part of the KLCC Development Master Plan. -- BERNAMA Malaysia