DPM: HSR not a current priority, ECRL a 'strange agreement'

Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) project was not a current priority.

This comes after Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad confirmed yesterday that the HSR project would be scrapped.

"At the moment it is not a priority and I think the prime minister has his reasons for doing that.

"So I think what the prime minister has decided, I think he has taken into account many things (such as) whether we can afford it and whether it is cost-effective," Wan Azizah told reporters after attending a buka puasa event in Lembah Pantai tonight.

She said that in their meeting with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Lee mentioned that Singapore remained committed to the project.

However, he also said Singapore was still open to discussion on the terms and how they could resolve any issue amicably as neighbouring countries, she added.

Wan Azizah also commented on the plan to renegotiate the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project, calling it a "strange agreement”.

"It does not go by the work progress but rather an agreement between the Chinese bank and the Chinese contractors so probably then, of course, the prime minister will have to look at it.

"We do not want to have to pay compensation that will be a loss for our nation so we have to look at it carefully but it is a strange agreement," she said.

Both the HSR and the ECRL projects have been branded by critics as one of the previous administration's non-viable, big-ticket projects.

Mahathir had said that Malaysia will make no money at all from the HSR operation.

He also said he was told the compensation figure for scrapping the project was RM500 million, though he will confirm that later. -Mkini