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SINGAPORE – Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin had a videoconference discussion on Wednesday (December 2) on the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail (HSR) project, both leaders said in a joint statement.
They took stock of the progress of discussions on the project and gained a good understanding of the respective positions of Malaysia and Singapore, the Prime Ministers added.
Their discussion is brought forward to the deadline of December 31 for the second and last extension of the suspension of the bilateral project.
“Both parties will announce more details about the HSR project through a joint statement in due course,” the leaders said in their statement.
“Both prime ministers also reaffirmed the strong bilateral relations between the two countries that encompass many areas of cooperation and the sincere desire to further strengthen these relations for mutual benefit,” they added.
Their joint statement comes in the wake of comments from both countries on discussions about changes to the project, which was first announced in 2010.
The proposed 350km line would reduce travel time between the two cities to 90 minutes, compared to more than four hours by car.
Last Wednesday, a spokesman for the Singapore Ministry of Transport (MOT) said Malaysia had proposed some changes to the HSR project, adding that Singapore has been discussing them in good faith with Malaysia.
Last Friday, Malaysian Economic Affairs Minister Mustapa Mohamed said that the Malaysian government had not yet finalized plans for the HSR project.
He said Malaysia had made several new proposals to “improve” the project and was still in the process of negotiating them with Singapore.
The remarks come after a news report from the Malaysian website Free Malaysia Today claimed last week that KL was considering changes to have the line terminated in Johor Baru and not Singapore, a move that would cast doubt on the project’s sustainability. .
In response to the report, the Singapore MOT spokesperson said last week that Singapore continues to believe that the HSR project is beneficial to both countries and remains fully committed to meeting its obligations under the HSR bilateral agreement.
“We will do our best to conclude discussions with Malaysia before December 31, 2020,” the spokesperson said, adding that if, by December 31, Malaysia does not advance with the project, under agreements between both countries, it will assume the agreed costs incurred by Singapore in compliance with the HSR bilateral agreement.
Both countries signed the bilateral agreement, a legally binding international pact, in Putrajaya in December 2016, witnessed by Prime Minister Lee and then-Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.
But after a change of government after Malaysia’s 2018 general election, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad initially wanted to remove the HSR as part of a mega-project review.
The Pakatan Harapan administration 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.
Both countries then 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.
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