PETALING JAYA, Feb 20 – Pakatan Rakyat (PR) announced today that a high-speed interstate railway system will be part of their Election 2013 manifesto, which it says is much more needed than a Kuala Lumpur-Singapore link.
This comes amid a joint-venture between the Malaysian and Singaporean governments to complete a high-speed rail link between the two cities by 2020, which is predicted to cost up to RM13 billion.
“Although the manifesto for PR will only be launched this Monday ... I can give an early preview that it will give a specific commitment to build an interstate high-speed rail system,” PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli (picture) told reporters here.
“It will be a long-term development, done over several phases.”
The system will connect major cities along a route from Perlis down to Johor Baru, and connect the east coast of Malaysia to the west coast, Rafizi offered.
“This project puts the people’s priority first even more so, and it will be the main difference between Barisan Nasional (BN) and PR,” he added.
Rafizi questioned the decision to only have two stops after laying out the necessary railway infrastructure along the route, which he said will already take up around 70 per cent of the total construction cost.
“We’re not against the project, the country needs a backbone, an efficient and fast railway system, but the urgency is to connect cities to cities,” stressed Rafizi.
He also criticised Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s insistence in announcing the mega-project in the final stage before the country goes to the polls, stressing that an administration with an expiring mandate should not enter such a heavy financial commitment.
The announcement follows two major highway concession deals in the last two months: the RM5.2 billion West Coast Expressway in January, and the RM1.55 billion East Klang Valley Expressway early this month.
Rafizi likened Najib’s last-minute deals to those undertaken by his predecessor Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who among others signed away two offshore oil blocks to Brunei, which were potentially worth billions of ringgits.
The PKR politician also raised concerns over the award of the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore rail link to conglomerate YTL Corporation Berhad headed by Tan Sri Datuk Francis Yeoh, which he claimed has close ties to the ruling coalition.
According to Rafizi, YTL had a few years ago said that the project will cost at least RM8 billion, but has recently raised the estimate to RM13 billion.
Najib and his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong announced the project yesterday, which they claimed will usher in a new era of strong growth, prosperity and opportunities for both countries.
The rail link will cut travel time between the two capital cities to 90 minutes, with a new Customs, Immigration and Quarantine facilities at Puteri Harbour in Malaysia’s Iskandar economic zone likely to be set up this year.
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