Mahathir vows to scrap 'unnecessary' KL-Singapore HSR project: Report
SINGAPORE: Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has vowed to scrap the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail project (HSR), telling a newspaper that it's part of spending cuts that are required for the country to "avoid being declared bankrupt".
In an interview with the Financial Times on Monday (May 28), Mahathir said that one of the "most important priorities" was Malaysia's financial situation.
Advertisement“We need to do away with some of the unnecessary projects, for example the high-speed rail, which is going to cost us RM110 billion (US$28 billion) and will not earn us a single cent. That will be dropped,” said the 92-year-old.
Malaysia's new finance minister Lim Guan Eng last week said that the government's total debt exceeded RM1 trillion, with the scandal-ridden 1MDB as a main contributor.
“We have an agreement with Singapore,” said Mahathir, referring to the project which was scheduled to be completed in 2026, with construction estimated by analysts to cost US$13 billion to US$15 billion, according to the report.
“We have to talk with Singapore about dropping that project,” he added.
AdvertisementAdvertisementMahathir also said the government would talk to the Chinese government about renegotiating "unequal treaties", said the report, including the Chinese-backed US$14 billion East Coast Rail Link.
Many large projects and government agencies set up by former prime minister Najib Razak were also "not necessary at all", Mahathir was quoted in the report.
“Mostly it was about trying to make the prime minister popular and it cost billions of dollars,” he said.
The HSR project that cuts across four states in Malaysia aims to stimulate development along the corridor and create economic clusters around the seven stations from Bandar Malaysia, Putrajaya, Seremban, Melaka to Muar, Batu Pahat and Iskandar Puteri, before crossing to Singapore.
Mahathir had earlier said that Malaysia was going to look into how it can reduce the cost of any potential exit from the HSR project.
Channel NewsAsia has reached out to the Ministry of Transport for comments.
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SINGAPORE: Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has vowed to scrap the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail project (HSR), telling a newspaper that it's part of spending cuts that are required for the country to "avoid being declared bankrupt".
In an interview with the Financial Times on Monday (May 28), Mahathir said that one of the "most important priorities" was Malaysia's financial situation.
Advertisement“We need to do away with some of the unnecessary projects, for example the high-speed rail, which is going to cost us RM110 billion (US$28 billion) and will not earn us a single cent. That will be dropped,” said the 92-year-old.
Malaysia's new finance minister Lim Guan Eng last week said that the government's total debt exceeded RM1 trillion, with the scandal-ridden 1MDB as a main contributor.
“We have an agreement with Singapore,” said Mahathir, referring to the project which was scheduled to be completed in 2026, with construction estimated by analysts to cost US$13 billion to US$15 billion, according to the report.
“We have to talk with Singapore about dropping that project,” he added.
AdvertisementAdvertisementMahathir also said the government would talk to the Chinese government about renegotiating "unequal treaties", said the report, including the Chinese-backed US$14 billion East Coast Rail Link.
Many large projects and government agencies set up by former prime minister Najib Razak were also "not necessary at all", Mahathir was quoted in the report.
“Mostly it was about trying to make the prime minister popular and it cost billions of dollars,” he said.
The HSR project that cuts across four states in Malaysia aims to stimulate development along the corridor and create economic clusters around the seven stations from Bandar Malaysia, Putrajaya, Seremban, Melaka to Muar, Batu Pahat and Iskandar Puteri, before crossing to Singapore.
Mahathir had earlier said that Malaysia was going to look into how it can reduce the cost of any potential exit from the HSR project.
Channel NewsAsia has reached out to the Ministry of Transport for comments.
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