KUALA LUMPUR: The Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) project was cancelled after Malaysia and Singapore failed to reach an agreement on changes to explore cost-reduction options following the suspension expiry on Dec 31 last year, project owner MyHSR Corp Sdn Bhd said.
Published on: Sunday, January 10, 2021
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ON Jan 1, Malaysian Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong announced in a joint statement that the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) project has been terminated, after both countries failed to reach agreement on changes proposed by Malaysia by the deadline of Dec 31.
Following this, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said the government will undertake a detailed study to explore all possible options, including the viability of a domestic HSR project and its benefits to Malaysians.
When asked by a reporter last month, I gave several pertinent reasons that it is better not to proceed with the HSR project if the train service terminates in Johor Baru.
COMMENT | KL-S pore HSR project – better the second time around?
Modified9 Jan 2021, 7:53 am
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COMMENT | As someone who was part of the Malaysian team of officials that worked on the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) project for two years way back in 2015 – 2016, I felt a tinge of sadness when the two prime ministers announced the termination of the HSR Bilateral Agreement on Jan 1, 2021.
However, after listening to the
Astro Awani interview with Minister in Prime Minister s Department (Economy) Mustapa Mohamad and also the podcast of the statement by Singapore Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung, I realised that while the 2016 HSR Bilateral Agreement is definitely dead and buried, the same is not necessarily true of the project itself.
A dream dashed. Calls for transparency. Land of missed opportunities. These are some of the cries uttered by Malaysians after learning that the long-awaited Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) was scrapped by the government on the first day of 2021.