This week, the Malaysian government called on private companies to submit investment projects for the high-speed rail project linking Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. The latter had been put on hiatus for two years after the two countries had not agreed on several points.
2 mins
With our correspondent in Malaysia, Juliette Pietraszewski
This is the continuation of the high-speed rail line project. This would connect Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, at a time when planes and cars are the fastest and most used means of transport to connect the two cities. This project had been put on hold for two years and Malaysia had even paid more than 102 million dollars in compensation to Singapore in order to reimburse Singapore for the costs incurred in developing the project. The Malaysian government is now considering ” new funding mechanisms said the Ministry of Transport. The possibility of a public-private partnership thus seems to interest the Malaysians.
Last March, the government had already met with several private companies to assess their interest in the famous project called the ” HSR “, estimated at 17 billion US dollars (about 15.13 billion euros). Among the companies in question: MMC Corporation, Berjaya Group and Malaysian Resources Corporation.
Singapore open to any new proposal
This week, the Malaysian government therefore declared itself officially open to local and international companies, to assess the industry’s ability to fully finance the project. On the Singapore side, the Ministry of Transport says to keep its door open to any new proposal from Malaysia for the HSR, “ proposal in good faith, starting from a clean slate “, he specified.
The Malaysians therefore keep the hope of seeing, one day, a high-speed train between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, a rail link of nearly 350 kilometers. Today, traveling by train from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore requires several connections and transfers. A journey, longer than by bus.