Johor Ruler willing to hand over Bukit Chagar land if part of RTS project

The empty plot of land in Bukit Chagar which is supposed to be the station for the Rapid Transit System (RTS Link) between Johor Baru and Singapore.

JOHOR BARU: Johor Ruler Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar is willing to hand over his plot of land in Bukit Chagar to the government without any cost if it is involved in the Rapid Transit System (RTS) project.

His private secretary Datuk Jaba Mohd Noah said that Sultan Ibrahim had expressed his disappointment with a report claiming that the rise of cost for the RTS project was due to the plot of land owned by Sultan Ibrahim.

"However, Sultan Ibrahim has decreed that if the plot of land at Bukit Chagar is involved in the RTS project, then His Majesty has agreed to hand over the land to the government without any cost.

"The RTS project must be continued as His Majesty understands the plight of many people that must travel into Singapore on a daily basis," he added.

Jaba said this in a statement posted on Sultan Ibrahim's official Facebook page on Saturday (May 4).

He said that the Johor Ruler has always stressed that the rakyat and government's interests were always a priority to Sultan Ibrahim.

This follows a statement by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Friday (May 3) that the government will try to reclaim before mulling to buy the land, purportedly in the name of the Sultan of Johor, for the Rapid Transit System (RTS) project.

"We have agreed to take about six months to consider RTS again or decide on other alternative plans. First, we will reclaim the land. If there are parties which have taken the land, they must follow the existing process.

"We have not received a full report, only rumours that the land has been taken by Sultan of Johor. About the payment, we do not know," Dr Mahathir told reporters after a Pakatan Harapan presidential council meeting at Yayasan Al-Bukhary.

He was commenting on reports in various portals, which quoted sources, alleging that a plot of land in Bukit Chagar, which the federal government was supposed to own, is now in the name of the Johor Ruler.

According to the reports, the 4.5ha plot was one of five lots in Bukit Chagar that Putrajaya received from the Johor government in 2012 as part of a land swap deal to build the Johor Baru Customs, Immigrataion and Quarantine Complex.

When asked if the government would buy back the land, Dr Mahathir did not rule that out.

"If he has paid, we have to buy back. But if he hasn't, we won't. It is our land.

We have to make our claim that the land is ours," he added.

The RTS project, signed in 2018, was scheduled for construction this year and expected to be completed by December 2024.

It covers 4km between Bukit Chagar, Johor Baru and Woodlands, Singapore, with the capacity to ferry 10,000 passengers an hour.

The project will run above ground in Johor and on a 25m-high bridge across the straits before going underground to Woodlands North.

Earlier, it was speculated that the RTS project might be shelved indefinitely after Malaysia requested for a six-month deadline extension.