KUALA LUMPUR: Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin today urged his fellow Cabinet ministers to not issue conflicting statements concerning the RM81 billion East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project.
This follows an announcement made this morning by Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali that the government had cancelled the contract with China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) at a Cabinet meeting two days ago.
However, subsequently, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng had voiced his shock over Azmin’s announcement.
Muhyiddin said he was not aware of the announcement that the ECRL project had been cancelled. He said he was present at the Cabinet meeting two days ago.
“I think the finance minister or the prime minister are better qualified to explain. The project is not under my portfolio.
“To prevent further confusion, it would be best for me not to comment. I leave it to the discretion of the minister responsible to make the announcement.
“It is best that there be no conflicting statements from other Pakatan Harapan (PH) Cabinet ministers. I speak as an old-timer,” he said, adding that it was better to wait for an official statement.
Muhyiddin was speaking at a press conference after launching the Malay version of Setiawangsa MP Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad’s book on the 14th general election here today.
Muhyiddin scoffed at the contention by former prime minister Najib Razak that the conflicting statements showed PH Cabinet ministers don’t communicate and did not have WhatsApp groups.
“We have a lot of WhatsApp messages. Of course, we (Cabinet ministers) have our WhatsApp group,” he said.
Azmin was reported as saying that the decision was taken after reviewing the cost of the ECRL project which were deemed too high and beyond the government’s financial capability for the time being.
“If the project is not terminated, the government will have to bear an interest of about RM500 million a year.
“Therefore, the project needs to be terminated without affecting relations with China,” he told reporters after officiating the 2019 Silat Cekak Hanafi’s annual general meeting and presentation of awards here today.
The contract was awarded to CCCC, with financing provided by Export-Import Bank of China (Exim Bank of China).
Work relating to the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning scope of the ECRL were suspended in July 2018.
Spanning 688.3km, the rail project, linking Port Klang with Pengkalan Kubor in Kelantan, was to be developed in two phases.
Singapore-based Straits Times reported that CCCC’s contract was terminated following its failure to reduce the project cost by half to RM40 billion and failing to meet several requests made by the government.
Malaysia Gazette had quoted Lim as saying that Azmin might “not have been informed” of certain matters previously decided by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad on the project.
“I was shocked to see his (Azmin’s) announcement, but maybe that is his position,” he was reported as saying after launching the 37th National Customs Day celebrations in Kelana Jaya today. - FMT
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