By Elishya Perera
KUALA LAMPUR, Malaysia (CWBN)_Malaysia and Singapore are still negotiating proposals brought up by the former, to improve the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail (HSR) project, Mustapa Mohamed, a member of the Prime Minister’s Department for Economic Affairs, said in a statement issued yesterday (Nov 27).
Mustapa added that the negotiation process initiated by Malaysia will expire on December 31.
“[…] Malaysia and Singapore are still in the process of negotiating on some proposals submitted by Malaysia to improve this project […] Both countries have until Dec 31 to conduct the negotiation processes,” he said.
The statement was issued following claims made by a Malaysian news agency that Malaysia may resume the project without the participation of its neighbour, having the line end in Johor Bahru instead of Singapore.
Meanwhile, Singapore’s Ministry of Transport said in a statement on Thursday (Nov 26) that the HSR Bilateral Agreement is a legally binding international agreement and according to the spokesperson for the Ministry, if Malaysia fails to proceed with the project by December 31, it would bear the costs incurred by Singapore in fulfilling the Agreement.
In September 2018, when both countries agreed to postpone the project until in May 2020, Malaysia paid S$15 million to Singapore for the costs incurred in suspending the project.
Subsequently, Malaysia requested for a further seven-month suspension for the parties to negotiate the changes proposed by Malaysia.
“Singapore continues to believe that the HSR Project is beneficial for both countries, and remains fully committed to fulfilling our obligations under the HSR Bilateral Agreement. We will make our best efforts to conclude discussions with Malaysia by Dec 31,” the spokesperson said.
The proposed HSR line will offer an express service between Kuala Lampur and Singapore within 90 minutes as opposed to the current travel time of 11 hours on existing train services. The line will also provide a domestic service for Malaysia from Kuala Lumpur to Iskandar Puteri.
Edited by Chathushka Perera
