KUALA LUMPUR (April 6): Opposition lawmaker Liew Chin Tong has called on the government to present a ministerial statement in the next parliamentary session to explain the various issues involved in the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) project.

“The government owes the Malaysian public many answers for the largest ever infrastructure project,” he said in a statement today.

Liew said he had requested for specific information on the HSR in Parliament, including the projected ridership, operation cost per kilometre, land acquisition cost, construction cost, cost of rail cars and the estimated travel fare.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Wahid Omar, in his response, merely mentioned that the projected ridership in the 10th year of operation is 18 million passengers a year (50,000 passengers per day), said Liew.

"Since the feasibility studies have been presented to the Economic Council (EC) in June 2013 as revealed in Wahid in his parliamentary reply, the simple questions such as the estimated travel fare, construction cost estimates and land acquisition costs, must have already been known to the government.

"These basic parameters would have been addressed by the so-called feasibility studies presented to the EC. If not, it would be unthinkable for the EC to make a positive decision on the HSR, without even knowing the various cost components of the project, which is by far the largest infrastructure investment ever in Malaysia," he said.

Liew added that another minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Nancy Shukri, had promised to release the studies when replying to his queries back in 2013, but had subsequently backtracked on the promise.

To gain public confidence and support across the political divide, the government must do more than disclose the feasibility studies, he said.  

Liew said Wahid's projection of 18 million passengers in the 10th year of operation seemed too optimistic, as the Eurostar service between London and Paris had only breached the 10 million mark in 2013, after two decades of operation.

"Combined together, the population of London and Paris is almost similar to that of Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. However, the size of the economy and the spending power of London and Paris is a lot larger than Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Is the projection of achieving RM18 million passengers a year, a wishful goal or substantiated by sound and pragmatic calculations?" he questioned.

Liew noted that Dr. Francis Hutchison of ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute had raised several questions on the financing and structure of the project.

Hutchison, he said, had queried on the proportion of financing between Malaysia and Singapore, how the tendering process will be carried out by both countries, whether the project will be broken down into smaller packages, and the link between the direct Kuala Lumpur-Singapore express and the commuter service.

Stressing there are many questions that must be answered, including whether the HSR project is really needed, Liew said: “I call on the Government to present a ministerial statement in the May session of parliamentary sitting to explain the various issues involved, as well as briefing the MPs and the public, as the taxpayers will eventually have to bear the costs for generations, if the project is not viable in the first place.”