PUTRAJAYA: Transport Minister Anthony Loke will be making a working visit to Bangkok next month to enhance cooperation between Malaysia and Thailand in the Pan-Asian railway network.
Loke said he will meet with his Thailand counterpart to further discuss efforts to realise the Pan-Asia Railway, which is an initiative aimed at connecting China with South-East Asia through a comprehensive rail network.
According to Loke, the railroad tracks between Malaysia and China along the Pan-Asia rail are completed, and the only hindrance now are the various different government restrictions, customs and immigration clearance.
“So, all of that must be dealt with before regular services can be conducted.
“Most importantly now, we must cooperate with Thailand. I will visit Bangkok on May 2 to meet with their Transport Minister and this will be the most important agenda,” said Loke.
According to Loke, the Pan-Asia railway plan was proposed by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad during the fifth Asean summit in 1995.
“But it was never realised in terms of cooperation because there were many missing links and some railroad tracks were not accessible.
“But right now, every part is accessible,” said Loke.
Loke said the initiative will connect Malaysia right up to Kunming, China and this could open up new economic opportunities for Malaysia.
“It could open up a new market in the west of China, especially in inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, where there are many Muslims.
“so, we can open up the halal market to our country and we can export our products through the railroad,” said Loke.
The Pan-Asia Railway plan envisioned a rail network connecting Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, and eventually reaching Kunming in China.
At the same time, Loke said Malaysia and China inked 31 MOUs during President Xi Jinping’s recent visit and among them was a framework to cooperate on developing rail centres.
“So, we are working with China to develop our railroad sector, that’s the framework of cooperation.
“China will also provide more technical training to our rail personnel, and then we will have technology transfer and of course, we can look at other projects on how to develop our railroad sector,” said Loke.
Meanwhile, Loke said the Railway Asset Corporation (RAC) and YTL Corporation have signed a memoranda of understanding (MOU) to allow YTL to instal fibre optic cables.
According to Loke, this is the second fibre optics contract awarded to a different company, as the first was awarded to Fiberail Sdn Bhd 30 years ago.
“Before this, Fiberail was the company given exclusive rights to instal fibre optics in all train tracks," he said.
“Now, there is no more exclusivity. From time to time, we can consider other telecommunications companies,” added Loke.
