Muhyiddin finally realising benefits of HSR, says Najib

 

Najib Razak says Muhyiddin Yassin ordered the government to pay RM320 million in compensation to Singapore due to the cancellation of the HSR project. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Former prime minister Najib Razak said Muhyiddin Yassin has finally realised that the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) will greatly benefit Johor.

He said Muhyiddin was the one who cancelled the project when he was prime minister and ordered the government to pay RM320 million in compensation to Singapore.

“He is now the one who is promising to restore the project that he cancelled if PN wins the Johor elections,” Najib wrote on Facebook.

He was commenting on a Bernama report today which said Muhyiddin had supported the HSR project when he was the prime minister and that Perikatan Nasional (PN) would support the project’s rehabilitation if the coalition won the March 12 state elections.

Muhyiddin, who is Pagoh MP, had also said that the project would be a game changer and claimed that during his tenure as prime minister, he had also looked at several models in case Singapore did not participate in the project.

“We have calculated that (the) HSR is still viable, but it will take some time to recover the cost.

“I also had an idea to extend the HSR to Bangkok and further to other countries in the region. That was part of the plan,” he said.

On Jan 1 last year, Malaysia and Singapore jointly announced the termination of the HSR project as the two countries had failed to agree on changes proposed by Putrajaya before the project agreement expired on Dec 31, 2020.

However, during an official visit to Singapore in November last year, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob had suggested to his counterpart, Lee Hsien Loong, to revive the project. - FMT