PUTRAJAYA: The government has officially slammed the brakes on two major transportation mega projects - the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR), as well as the third Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit (MRT3) line project.
Another mega project, the East Coast Rail Line (ECRL), is still being studied, says Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Speaking to the media after chairing a Cabinet meeting in Putrajaya on Wednesday, Dr Mahathir said the decision behind Malaysia’s withdrawal from the HSR deal was due to the project’s high cost.
“The Cabinet has agreed to cancel the HSR but the final decision depends on a discussion with Singapore,” he said.
To a question on whether the HSR project could be revisited if the country’s finances is in a better position, Dr Mahathir replied, “definitely.”
Dr Mahathir had previously described the HSR project, which he valued at RM110 billion, as being "unnecessary and will not earn the country a single sen".
Axing the project, a 350km-long high speed rail connection linking the two countries’ capital, said Dr Mahathir, would help the country reduce the government’s total debt, which he said exceeded RM1 trillion.
Dr Mahathir had previously said there were high financial penalties to be incurred for withdrawing from the project and that Malaysia would seek to establish how to reduce those costs.
The decision to cancel the HSR had come under fire from several quarters, among them Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications Unit chief Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan.
Rahman said Malaysia would lose an estimated RM209 billion in gross national income (GNI) contribution and also the potential to create 70,000 jobs if the HSR was canceled.
Singapore has yet to comment on the issue.
Meanwhile, Dr Mahathir also announced that the government would be ditching the MRT3 project, which he said would cost up to RM40 billion to construct.
"The MRT 3 project will be discontinued," he said.
MRT 3, also known as the MRT Circle Line, was initially scheduled to be 40km in length, 32km of which would be underground with 26 stations planned along the route. The line, which was planned to run around the periphery of Kuala Lumpur city centre, would have included Ampang Jaya, Kuala Lumpur City Centre, Jalan Bukit Bintang, the Tun Razak Exchange, Bandar Malaysia, KL Eco City, Pusat Bandar Damansara, Mont' Kiara and Sentul.
Dr Mahathir also touched on the ECRL, and said the RM55 project has not been cancelled yet.
"The project has not been cancelled as yet. We are still studying this matter,” he said.
The ECRL, a 600km-long rail link built by China Railway Construction Corp, was supposed to carry both passengers and freight from the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia to its east coast and vice versa.--Report by Manirajan Ramasamy, Irwan Shafrizan Ismail and Mohd Nasaruddin Parzi