KUALA LUMPUR: Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook has revealed that the government is willing to revive the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) project so long as Putrajaya does not have to bear the cost.
Loke said that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had asked him to discuss the matter, stating that the Transport Ministry was open to getting proposals from the private sector.
"The prime minister has mentioned that we are open to any proposals, provided that they are private investments. As such, there has been no decision on reviving the HSR project just yet, but we are not putting a stop to it.
"There are no definite proposals just yet. There is also no timeline as the bilateral agreement with Singapore was discontinued by the previous government.
"There is no urgency on reaching any milestones, so therefore we are open to any mechanism or model," he told the media earlier today.
Just last month, Singapore announced that it was willing to consider proposals from Malaysia in potential efforts to revive the HSR programme.
Singapore's second minister for foreign affairs, Maliki Osman, said that the island republic was prepared to study "any proposal" that neighbouring Malaysia might have.
When asked if Anwar had brought up the issue during his recent official visit to Singapore on Jan 30, Maliki said he could not recall.
"We have stated that if there is any interest, then we are open to looking at any such proposal," he said.
At first, Malaysia and Singapore had signed a bilateral agreement back in 2016 for the 350km rail project. It was supposed to be completed in 2026 and shorten travel time between Kuala Lumpur and the island republic to just 90 minutes.
The railway project was cancelled on Jan 1, 2021, by the Perikatan Nasional-led government, resulting in Malaysia having to cough up RM320 million in compensation to Singapore which was part of the bilateral agreement.
It was later revealed that Singapore could not agree to the previous government's proposal to remove the HSR's systems supplier and network operator.