Proposal to revive HSR project still in early discussions

 

PARLIAMENT | The proposal to revive the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) is still in the preliminary stages of discussion, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economic Affairs) Mustapa Mohamed.

As such, the question from Lim Guan Eng (Harapan-Bagan) on whether the revived project’s costs can be reduced to RM50 billion does not arise yet, he said.

“I would like to stress that the possibility of reviving the KL-Singapore HSR is still in the early stages of discussion,” Mustapa (above) said in the Dewan Rakyat while responding to Lim during the Minister's Question Time today.

It was previously reported that Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob had mooted the revival of the KL-Singapore HSR project in a bilateral meeting on Nov 29 with his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong who welcomed the suggestion.

This proposal comes after Ismail Sabri’s predecessor Muhyiddin Yassin terminated the project at a cost of RM320 million.

 It was previously reported that Malaysia’s attempt to remove the assets company – AssetsCo – which would have required it to be jointly tendered with Singapore, was the key reason for the cancellation of the project.

In early January this year, Singapore’s Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung had said the proposed removal of AssetsCo was Singapore’s main concern as the company would have ensured accountability to both countries.

Mustapa today reaffirmed this, saying the bilateral agreement for the project lapsed as Singapore did not agree to Malaysia’s suggestion to remove AssetsCo.

“Under the new HSR 2.0 model that was presented to Singapore, Malaysia had suggested for AssetsCo to be removed.

“Singapore did not agree to this suggestion. As such, the bilateral agreement signed on Dec 13, 2016, was cancelled,” Mustapa said. - Mkini