KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will not pay any compensation to Singapore for the deferment of the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) project as it is a mutual decision, said Senior Minister cum International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali.
Azmin, who leads Malaysia’s side in the HSR discussions with Singapore, said teams from both countries would meet to further deliberate on the technical aspects of the project.
“In principle, we’ve agreed that this particular project is beneficial to both countries, but we need to sit down and discuss the technicalities of this project.
“So, we need more time. If we can conclude the whole exercise within three to four months, certainly we will meet again,“ he told reporters after officiating at Miti’s 2019 Excellence Awards ceremony here today.
On May 31, both governments agreed to defer the construction of the RM110 billion bilateral project again until Dec 31, 2020.
The 350km-long railway project has been suspended since September 2018 and was set to resume at end-May 2020.
This is the second time the HSR has been suspended. Malaysia remitted S$15 million to Singapore to cover the costs of the delayed project in the first deferment.
“The mandate given to us when we deferred the project in 2018 until 2020, was to look again at the costing of the project (such as) new alignments and new design.
“Alhamdulillah, we’re able to reduced (the cost) substantially for HSR, but now we have agreed to continue the project (to resume after being deferred the first time),“ he said.
Asked whether the government has enough allocation to pay any additional cost arising from the second deferment, Azmin said: “ for that allocation, we need to discuss again.”
“The question of funding for the project will be discussed because the country’s fiscal ability now is definitely limited,” he added. - Bernama
source https://www.thesundaily.my/business/azmin-malaysia-not-paying-singapore-compensation-as-hsr-deferment-a-mutual-decision-NC2602593
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