In Local News, Public Transport / By Mick Chan / 18 December 2019 1:50 pm / 41 comments

The Malaysian government will review the construction of the KL-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) project following the restarting of the Bandar Malaysia development, said prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. The prime minister said that the government will study the feasibility and costs of the project before making a final decision, according to Malay Mail.

“We will go ahead but we will need to find what is the suitable speed that we should have. We would like to spend less money. For me, it can be scaled down or have the necessary adjustment in order to reduce the cost,” the prime minister said.

Previously put on hold due to its prohibitive RM110 billion cost, the review of the KL-Singapore HSR project was announced after the renewal of the Bandar Malaysia project yesterday at the signing ceremony between the ministry of finance-owned TRX City Sdn Bhd with lWH CREC Sdn Bhd, the consortium of Iskandar Waterfront Holdings Sdn Bhd (lWH) and China Railway Engineering Corporation (M) Sdn Bhd (CREC).

The 486-acre Bandar Malaysia project is set to consist of mixed developments for commercial, residential and cultural infrastructure, the report said.

First signed in December 2016, the HSR was initially planned as a 350 km route comprising 335 km in Malaysia and 15 km in Singapore. This was to have eight stops – Singapore, Iskandar Puteri, Batu Pahat, Muar, Ayer Keroh, Seremban, Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur, and a bridge over the Straits of Johor would have linked the two countries.

Said at the time to be Southeast Asia’s largest-ever infrastructure project, the proposed railway system attracted interest from Japan, China, South Korea and several European countries, and was initially expected to commence operations in 2026.