Over S$270 mil already spent on HSR, S’pore Parliament told

SINGAPORE – The compensation to Singapore over the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) termination will include various abortive costs, but not for land acquisition, as the land value can be recovered.

Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung said this in Parliament today, in response to a question on the project.

He said Singapore has spent more than S$270 million (RM821.6 million) on HSR.

“Some of these costs, such as for consultancy services, infrastructure design, and manpower to deliver the project, are abortive costs if the project does not proceed.”

He was asked the total expenditure incurred to date by the country in relation to HSR, and the terms specified in the bilateral agreement in relation to compensation, in the case of termination of the deal by either party.

On January 1, the Malaysian and Singaporean prime ministers issued a joint statement on the lapse of the agreement.

Ong said the compensation amount and payment schedule are specified in the said agreement.

“In addition, there is a small component of miscellaneous abortive costs for the suspension of the project requested by Malaysia that Singapore is currently verifying, before we send it to Malaysia.”

Earlier today, Malaysia’s Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed stressed that the compensation is not punitive, but to reimburse the sum already spent by Singapore on HSR.

Ong added that due to confidentiality obligations under the agreement, Singapore is not at liberty to reveal the exact terms.

To date, he said, the republic has received about S$15 million from Malaysia, arising from the latter’s request to suspend the project back in 2018, up to May last year.

To a question on whether Singapore will consider a similar project with Malaysia, he said: “Whether we are open to future discussions, of course we are, but it should be on a clean slate after we settle the current HSR bilateral agreement.”

On whether the project’s cancellation will impact the Johor Baru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS), he said: “The short answer to the question is, no.

“RTS is progressing well so far. The JB side has broken ground… our side will break ground soon. We hope the service can commence in 2026 as scheduled.” – Bernama, January 4, 2021