Govt cancels HSR mega project

PETALING JAYA: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has confirmed that the High Speed Rail (HSR) project will be scrapped.

The Prime Minister said this was a final decision, but added that the process would take time as they had an agreement with Singapore on the matter.

“It’s not beneficial, it’s going to cost us a huge sum of money. We will make no money at all from the operation. It is just a short track,” he said after the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia supreme council meeting here.

Asked about the compensation that needed to be paid, he said he “supposed” it would be RM500mil.

The project, involving a 350km railway scheme linking Kuala Lum­pur and Singapore, was expected to start operations in 2026.

It would have cut travelling time between Kuala Lumpur and Singa­pore to 90 minutes.

When Pakatan Harapan swept to power in the 14th General Election on May 9, the coalition announced that it would review mega projects initiated by the previous administration to save the country billions of ringgit.

Besides the HSR, these may include the Tun Razak Exchange and Pan-Borneo Highway.

Two days before the Dewan Rakyat was dissolved in April to pave the way for the elections, MyHSR Corp Sdn Bhd – the firm responsible for the development and implementation of the project – announced the appointment of two project delivery partners to oversee the civil works worth a combined RM30bil to RM40bil.

Also present during the press conference were Pribumi president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and other party leaders.

On the same issue, Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali had said the Government was looking at the possible economic implications if it cancelled the HSR and East Coast Rail Link mega projects.

The Government, he said, needed to consider all factors involved, including an earlier contractual agreement between the two nations for the HSR.

He highlighted the importance of having talks with Singapore first to discuss how the project could be reviewed.

In an immediate reaction, Singapore’s Transport Ministry said it had yet to receive an official notification from Malaysia on the plan.

“We had agreed to proceed with the project based on mutual benefits and obligations set out in the HSR bilateral agreement. We will wait for official communication from Malaysia,” its spokesman said in an e-mail reply to Bernama.