Putrajaya to study Johor Sultan's proposal for rail project

Putrajaya will study the feasibility of an alternative design for a portion of the Rapid Transit System (RTS) track provided by Johor ruler Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan, who was granted an audience with the ruler last week, said Putrajaya took heed of the advice given.

"Obviously, some of the perception that he had was based on third-party information, so we gave him the true story," Abdul Rahman reporters in Kuala Lumpur after the signing of the memorandum of understanding to form a joint venture company to build the Johor Bahru-Singapore RTS.

The RTS will extend Singapore's MRT system to Johor Bahru. The system is expected to be operational by 2024.

In August, Sultan Ibrahim told the New Straits Times he objected to the curve and elevated the portion of the track that will run across the Johor Straits.

Singapore has to agree

Abdul Rahman said Putrajaya needed a month to study Sultan Ibrahim's alternative alignment. 

"We will present it to our counterpart in Singapore and then we will thrash it out if there is any difference of opinion," he added.

Besides this, the minister said, the government has several alternatives – high bridge, low bridge, diagonal bridge and parallel bridge.

Meanwhile, Prasarana president and group chief executive officer Azmi Abdul Aziz said the government would issue a guarantee for Prasarana to finance the RTS on the Malaysian side.

"The government will issue us a guarantee that we can go to the market and raise the funding," he said.

Not a 50-50 JV

The RTS will connect Bukit Chagar in Johor Bahru and Thomson Station of the East Coast Line in Woodlands, Singapore. Work is scheduled to begin in 2019.

The MOU was signed by Prasarana Malaysian Bhd and Singapore's SMRT Corporation Ltd.

In January 2017, PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli raised concern over Prasarana's financial standing after its debts reached RM18 billion, as of 2015.

When asked if the project will be a 50-50 joint venture, Abdul Rahman said this would not be the case.

"We don't believe in 50-50 basis because we may have a deadlock in making a decision. Both of us agreed that one side has to take the slight majority," he said.

According to him, the cost of the project has yet to be determined as they have not finalised RTS' alignment.

Both Malaysia and Singapore are expected to ink the bilateral agreement in December.

The joint venture company will call for an open tender later, noted Abdul Rahman.

Also present was Prasarana chairperson Khalid Abu Bakar, SMRT Corp chairperson Seah Moon Ming and group chief executive officer Desmond Kuek.- Mkini