Malaysia and Singapore cannot agree on the cross-border high-speed rail plan

The South China Morning Post reported on the 1st that a high-speed rail plan jointly implemented by Malaysia and Singapore was determined to be invalid because it could not reach a consensus within the stipulated expiry date of December 31.

            According to the “Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail Bilateral Agreement” signed by the two countries in 2016, the 350-kilometer high-speed rail plan is expected to shorten the journey time between Singapore and the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur from the original 4 hours to 1.5 hours. , To facilitate the circulation of personnel and economy and trade of both parties.

Unexpectedly, it was reported in December that the Malaysian government decided to complete the domestic high-speed rail construction alone and decisively abandon the cooperation plan with Singapore. To this end, Malaysia is required to “comply with their respective obligations” in accordance with the agreement and pay Singapore’s liquidated damages exceeding SGD 100 million.

           Malaysia cancels high-speed rail plan

          The report pointed out that the US$25 billion high-speed rail plan was signed and passed in 2016. However, as the former Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Razak was exposed to numerous political scandals, the high-speed rail plan has stalled.

          Since then, Malaysia has gone through two more party rotations, including the Pakatan Harapan camp headed by Mahathir Mohamad and the Perikatan Nasional camp headed by Muhyiddin, making it impossible for Singapore to restart. negotiation.

The blueprint, cost and route planning of the Singapore-Malaysian transnational high-speed rail plan (The picture is taken from the Malaysia High Speed Rail website)

          According to people familiar with the matter, as the current Prime Minister of Malaysia, Muhyiddin Yassin (Muhyiddin Yassin), is worried that the new high-speed rail project will undermine the potential status of Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) as a regional aviation hub, he raised objections several times during the discussion stage and wanted to change the planned destination Transferred to another place; however, his proposal was ultimately rejected by the Singaporean government.

         In addition, the Malaysian government also believes that the raging new crown epidemic will cause the people to change their commuting methods and gradually reduce travel, making the construction investment cost of the high-speed rail plan in the post-epidemic era inconsistent with the expected benefits and causing heavy losses.

         In view of this, Muhyiddin and Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong issued a joint statement stating that they will cancel the implementation of the plan; but they also pointed out that even though the high-speed rail plan has failed, the two sides will still work to maintain a good Bilateral relations are expected to carry out close cooperation in various fields in the future, including strengthening the connectivity and mobility between the two countries.