Sarawak not officially informed of Trans-Borneo railway proposal, says premier

 

Sarawak premier Abang Johari Openg said the economic planning unit is still in the midst of studying the feasibility of a railway network linking the state with the other regions in Borneo.

KUCHING: The Sarawak government has not been officially informed of a Brunei-based company’s proposal to start a high-speed rail network that would pass several destinations in the state, says Sarawak premier Abang Johari Openg.

Abang Johari said he had only read of the Trans-Borneo railway proposal from recent media reports, and the state government had yet to be approached by the project’s proponent.

“It’s probably a private sector proposal that doesn’t involve the government. If we were to build the Kalimantan-Borneo railway, there must be an agreement between Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei,” he said.

Abang Johari said the economic planning unit is still in the midst of studying the feasibility of a railway network linking Sarawak with the other regions in Borneo.

“They will engage in government-to-government discussions with Indonesia and Brunei to find a consensus in developing the Trans-Borneo railway,” he told the media here.

Meanwhile, Brunei transport and information communications minister Shamhary Mustapha said there has been no official discussion at the government level with regards to the proposal.

Brunei-based newspaper Borneo Bulletin reported Shamhary as saying that though his ministry was aware of the company’s aspirations to provide train services within Borneo, it still requires further study.

“Even though there has been no official discussion on the matter at the government level, there is an Asean railway sub-working group that discusses matters of railway connectivity within Asean, so this matter may be raised in the future,” he said.

Brunei-based Brunergy Utama Sdn Bhd’s proposal to start a high-speed rail network in Borneo recently caught media attention, as the plan aims to shorten travelling times between Brunei, Sarawak, Kalimantan and Sabah.

The company said the US$70 billion (RM330 billion) project would be implemented in two phases, involving routes of over 1,600km that would be served by high-speed trains with a maximum speed of 350km/h. - FMT