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KUALA LUMPUR (The Straits Times / ANN): Malaysia is expected to restart the twice-delayed high-speed rail (HSR) project, but without Singapore’s involvement, with the line ending in Johor and not Jurong East, The Malaysian Insight (TMI) news The site quoted a source as saying on Sunday (December 13).
The suspended bilateral project has a December 31 deadline as its last extension before officials have to make a final determination on its status.
When asked for comment, a spokesman for Singapore’s Ministry of Transport said on Sunday that the two countries are discussing the HSR project.
“As communicated in the December 2 joint statement of both prime ministers, we will announce further details on the HSR project through a joint statement in due course,” the spokesperson said.
According to TMI, Malaysia will pay Singapore just under 105 million Singapore dollars ($ 320 million) as compensation if it chooses to continue the project on its own.
“Malaysia will have to compensate Singapore with a payment of 104.67 million Singapore dollars. It must be paid before December 31,” said the source.
The sum is less than half the $ 250 million quoted last month by the Free Malaysia Today news site that Singapore would seek as a price to withdraw the deal.
The Malaysian Ministry of Transport declined to comment when contacted.
The TMI report said the Malaysian cabinet decided last Friday that Malaysia will not continue to work with Singapore on the project.
If Malaysia completed the HSR on its own, the project would cost around RM65 billion (S $ 21.4 billion), excluding trains, the source told TMI.
The original 350 km rail project was to run from a terminal station in Bandar Malaysia in central Kuala Lumpur, cross the Johor Strait near the Second Link and stop at a terminal in Jurong East.
The HSR was scheduled to have several other stations in between: at Seremban (Negri Sembilan), Ayer Keroh (Melaka) and three Johor stops at Pagoh, Ayer Itam and Iskandar Puteri.
TMI reported that Malaysia had asked to build an HSR station at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, which Singapore had rejected, and the source claimed that the Republic perceived this as a threat to its aviation industry.
The HSR project was first announced in 2010 and touted as capable of reducing travel time between KL and Singapore to 90 minutes, compared to more than four hours by car.
Both countries signed the bilateral agreement, a legally binding international pact, in Putrajaya in December 2016, witnessed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and then-Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.
The original goal was to have the trains running by December 31, 2016.
The new expected completion date for the HSR is 2029, while the number of expected passengers has been revised down to 4.2 million.
8.4 million people were previously projected to take the HSR in 2031.
On December 2, Prime Minister Lee and Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin held talks about the project via video conference, but no further information was released.
The project was first suspended after a Malaysian change of government after the May 2018 general elections, and then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad initially wanted to remove the HSR as part of a mega-project review.
The Pakatan Harapan administration, led by Tun Dr Mahathir, later clarified that it wanted to delay the start of construction, as a cancellation would have involved a large amount of compensation under the HSR agreement.
Later, both countries agreed to suspend the project, at the request of Malaysia.
The first extension in September 2018 ended in May this year, but the suspension was extended for the second and last time, until December 31.- The Straits Times / Asia News Network
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