By Elishya Perera
KUALA LAMPUR, Malaysia (CWBN)_Malaysia may resume the high-speed rail (HSR) project without participation of Singapore, The Malaysian Insight reported yesterday (DEC 13).
The media outlet cited an anonymous source which claimed that the rail line would end in Johor instead of Singapore, adding that Malaysia is prepared to pay RM300 million (S$99 million) in compensation for the costs incurred by the neighbouring country thus far.
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.
However, in May 2018, the project faced its first roadblock when then-Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced that Malaysia will be dropping the project, citing the project’s huge costs.
Subsequently, after some back and forth, in September 2018, both countries agreed to postpone the project until in May 2020, owing to which 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 Kuala Lampur.
Nevertheless, this is not the first time Malaysian media reports on the country’s intention to resume the project without the participation of Singapore.
A couple of weeks ago, following similar claims, Singapore’s Ministry of Transport said that the HSR Bilateral Agreement is a legally binding international agreement, while a spokesperson for the Ministry noted that “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.”
According to Mustapa Mohamed, a member of the Prime Minister’s Department for Economic Affairs, both parties have until December 31 to conclude the negotiations.
