Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR: The government, under its Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), will take yet another look at proposals to build a high-speed rail (HSR) linking Kuala Lumpur and Singapore after several shelved attempts to get the project off the ground.

Ahmad Suhaili Idrus, who is a director of the national key results areas (NKRAs) under the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu), said yesterday that Pemandu’s laboratory group had “worked very hard” to convince stakeholders and win support for the HSR plans.

“The high speed rail is going to be very useful for Greater KL. In 10 to 15 years time, it will be very useful to have direct connection between two economic entities — Greater KL and Singapore.

“When you have a high speed rail link, you basically create a lot of economic spin off along the route in terms of commercial, residential, employment and so on,” Ahmad Suhaili said during a presentation on Greater KL at the ETP’s open day here yesterday.

In recapping the two previous failed attempts to kickstart the HSR project, Ahmad Suhaili said “the timing wasn’t right” when the project was mooted by the private sector about five years ago.

He added that the timing was still “not right” three years ago when one of the government-linked companies (GLCs) conducted a review of the HSR proposal.

Ahmad Suhaili said, among other factors resulting in the lack of support for the HSL project was the global financial crisis that started about two years ago as well as the capital intensive nature of the rail project.

At present, proposals for the HSR were still at the conceptual stage and the next stage would be for a feasibility study to be conducted next year, Ahmad Suhaili said.

When asked, Ahmad Suhaili said plans to link Penang to Kuala Lumpur to enable Penang to be connected to the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore HSR were still premature.

“Any plans to connect Penang, if it were to happen, would be in 10 years’ time. Penang still doesn’t have the critical mass to support that kind of project,” Ahmad Suhaili said.

According to information posted at the ETP open day’s booths, door-to-door travel times from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore will take under three hours.

There are also proposals for an intercity rail service connecting Penang, Ipoh, Seremban, Ayer Keroh, Muar and Batu Pahat.

To questions about the status of the proposed mass rapid transit (MRT) system, Ahmad Suhaili said the government-appointed independent consultants were in the final stages of reviewing a proposal by a joint-venture between MMC Corp Bhd and Gamuda Bhd.

The Gamuda-MMC joint venture had proposed the development of an MRT system to the government to enhance rail interconnectivity within the city centre. The MRT system was subsequently announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak as part of the 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP) on June 10.

The Gamuda-MMC proposal would entail the laying of between 180km and 200km of rail, which comprises three new lines in addition to the existing LRT system. One of the new lines proposed is a circle line, which would integrate both the existing and new rail system.

Under the current proposal, the joint-venture would only undertake to bid on 30% of the project, which is worth RM12 billion to RM13 billion, while the remainder would be open for tender.

Ahmad Suhaili also said it was too early to discuss how the MRT project would be financed but noted that it would be shared between the public and private sectors.

He said the government cannot be expected to “bear the entire burden” of what is set to be the single largest infrastructure project, estimated at a cost of RM46 billion.

“It is going to be interesting. For the MRT, a lot of the questions will be answered in the next nine months. Honestly, we don’t have most of the answers now because it is in that (feasibility study) phase,” he said.


This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, September 22, 2010.

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