Economic minister says cabinet made this decision because project is too costly (Photo: Reuters)Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – Malaysia’s EconomicMinister Mohamed Azmin Ali said on January 26 that the country will cancel itsEast Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project with contractor China CommunicationsConstruction Co Ltd (CCCC) due to high annual interest rate.
According to the minister, at a meeting onJanuary 24, the Malaysian cabinet decided to terminate the project because ifcontinue, Malaysia would have to pay around 500 million RM (over 120 millionUSD) each year for the interest.
The finance ministry will determine how much topay CCCC for the project cancellation fee, he said.
Earlier this week, the Malaysian government hadlaid down a maximum cost of 40 billion RM (nearly 10 billion USD) instead of 20billion USD said previously and asked for more local products and services tobe included in the works.
However, CCCC could not accepted these proposals,resulting in negotiations coming to an end.
In 2017, CCCC won the construction of 620 km ECRL project connecting Malaysia'sunderdeveloped East Coast area to Kuala Lumpur and Thailand. 85 percent of thecost of this project was covered by Export-Import Bank of China.
The project was officially launched in August2017.-VNA
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