KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia is open to considering putting the now-scrapped KL-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) project back on track, granted it is not funded by Putrajaya, Transport Minister Anthony Loke revealed.
Loke said he has been instructed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to listen to proposals by the private sector on possibly funding the multibillion ringgit project, although no decision on its revival has been made yet.
“We can talk about it, we are open to proposals, as long as it is not funded by the government,” he told reporters on the sideline of the Invest Malaysia programme, here, today.
“Right now, there are no definite proposals coming in yet. A lot of parties are talking about pursuing it, but we have not received any complete proposals.”
Loke said the government has not set any timeline on possibly reviving the project, as there is no such urgency at the moment.
“Right now, we are open to a completely new funding mechanism and implementation model,” he said.
Malaysia and Singapore first agreed to build the 350km HSR in 2013, before inking a bilateral agreement in December 2016, with the project scheduled for completion in 2026.
The rail line would have cut travel time between KL and the republic island to 90 minutes compared to four hours by car.
However, when the Pakatan Harapan government came into federal power in 2018, then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had negotiated for the project to be deferred by two years.
Mahathir’s administration was subsequently ousted, with his successor Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announcing in a joint statement with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on January 1, 2021 that the project had been terminated.
This is after both countries failed to reach an agreement on changes proposed by Malaysia. – The Vibes, March 8, 2023
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