By Saiful Bahri Kamaruddin
Pix Ikhwan Hashim

BANGI, 19 Feb 2016 – The National University of Malaysia (UKM) and a transport consultancy company intend to transform the country’s public transport system into a more sustainable and environmental-friendly sector.

The first step towards the cooperation is for UKM to hold a series of short-term  courses for public transport professionals and planners, said the Director-General of Urusbudi Transplan Sdn Bhd Dr Rosli Nekmat.

“We hope that UKM can help us hold courses for engineers, transport operators and municipal councils so that they can be prepared for eventually working with vehicles that are less polluting,” Dr Rosli told the UKM News Portal after his company signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the university, here today.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Industry and Community Partnetships) Prof Datuk Dr Imran Ho Abdullah represented UKM.

Dr Rosli expects UKM to eventually hold more advanced courses in the longer term which would include a Masters programme in sustainable transport especially geared for the public transport industry.

He said for a start, some 200 officers from the various local authorities and a few from the sustainable transport sector will attend courses by the end of the year.

He noted that UKM has the research facilities on engine technology and autonomous vehicles that could be used for a Bus Management System.

He envisaged a Bus Rapid-Transit (BRT) system between Kuala Lumpur and Klang using existing diesel engines, but powered by the environmental-friendly Euro-5 fuel used in the European Union and reputed to be the cleanest in the world.