Liow: HSR tender to be called within a year

Rallying call: Liow delivering his speech during the opening ceremony of the ‘Jom Gerak, Teguh Bersama’ programme at the cultural centre of SMK Keat Hwa in Alor Setar.

ALOR SETAR: The tender for the High-Speed Rail (HSR) project linking Kuala Lumpur to Singapore is expected to be called within a year, said Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.

He said the ministry was looking forward to the signing of the memorandum of understanding for the HSR on Tuesday.

“Once the signing is done, the authorities will prepare the tender documents. The tender will be called within a year’s time.

“Many international companies have shown interest in the project and we welcome that. This is a very important and prestigious project because it is the first in Asean.

“We should be able to get more details on July 19 (Tuesday). The Transport Ministry is giving its full support to the project,” he added.

Liow, who is also MCA president, was speaking to reporters after launching the party’s Jom Gerak, Teguh Bersama (Let’s Move: Stronger Together) Carnival at SMJK Keat Hwa here yesterday.

Liow said the project would bring economic development to both Malaysia and Singapore.

Among the areas that will step up are the stops at Seremban, Ayer Keroh, Muar, Batu Pahat and Iskandar Puteri.

He said there would be a lot of transit-oriented development projects to help develop cities and towns along the rail link.

“We want them to link up with our urban transportation such as LRT and MRT as part of the transformation programme,” he said.

The proposed 350km-long double-track HSR line will also have one terminus in the new township of Bandar Malaysia, at the edge of Kuala Lumpur, with the other in Jurong East, Singapore.

The fast-speed train link will cut travelling time between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur to 90 minutes, compared with more than four hours by car.

It was previously reported that the project has been estimated to cost between RM60bil and RM65bil.

On another matter, Liow said he was concerned over the high number of accidents recorded during the 15-day Ops Selamat this year.

He said the number of accidents increased by 1,235 cases to 20,294 this year compared to last year’s operation although the death rate had reduced to 299 compared to 330 last year.