Malaysia-Singapore High Speed Rail map (Source: Internet)Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – Malaysia and Singapore have reached an agreement regardingMalaysia's request to postpone the High Speed Rail (HSR) linking the twocountries without compensation.
According tolocal media, Malaysian Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali said thatSingapore has agreed to put the project on hold "indefinitely", andthere will be no need for Malaysia to pay compensation during the period.
He added that theproject may be resumed when the Malaysian economy is improved, adding that incase the project is cancelled, Malaysia will have to make the compensation,which is around 500 million ringgit (123.1 million USD), to Singapore.
The governmentsof Malaysia and Singapore signed a legally-binding pact on the project inDecember 2016 under the administration of former Prime Minister Najib Razakwith total investment of about 17 billion USD. Both sides called for tenderlast year.
The high speed rail project would cut travel time between Kuala Lumpurand Singapore to 90 minutes once in operation.
However, after taking office in May 2018, Prime Minister MahathirMohamad announced the cancellation of the project as part of his policy to cutdown the country’s debts. But the leader later said that the project will notbe cancelled but postponed, adding that he sent a working team to Singapore fornegotiations.-VNA
VNA
