The move to scrap plans for the multibillion-dollar HSR due was announced by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Wednesday (May 30), who said that the Cabinet has agreed to scrap plans due to high financial costs.
Amid the announcement that plans for the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail (HSR) have been scrapped, tourism outlook still remains positive.
Anthony Chan of Singapore-based travel agency Chan Brothers notes that the outlook for outbound travel bookings to Malaysia “is still positive” and that “we do not see any significant impact for our leisure travellers considering the multiple modes of transportation available, be it low-cost flights, full-cost carriers to luxury buses."
But he rues the fact that “[the HSR] would have benefitted business travellers with the shortened travelling time.”
The move to scrap plans for the multibillion-dollar HSR due was announced by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Wednesday (May 30), who said that the Cabinet has agreed to scrap plans due to high financial costs.
The RM110 billion (US$17.1 billion) project was halted to “reduce the amount of borrowings by the government” and to “avoid bankruptcy”, reported Straits Times.
Malaysia is due to open negotiations with Singapore to unwind an agreement inked in 2016 by the previous administration.
As a result, Dr Mahathir said last week that Malaysia may have to pay RM500 million in compensation. The decision would deal a setback to construction and rail companies in Asia, including those from China and Japan that are keen to gain a slice of orders, Bloomberg reported.
Should Malaysia’s finances improve, HSR and other mega projects would be “definitely” revisited, Dr Mahathir said.
The 350km link was expected to shorten travel time between the two capitals to 90 minutes once completed in 2026, compared to the current travel time of four hours by car.
The government is also cancelling a third line for the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit project, estimated at RM40 billion.
Another project, the East Coast Rail Link, is still being reviewed. Dr Mahathir said that “it would talk to the Chinese government about renegotiating what he called “unequal treaties”. The US$14 billion project links Kuala Lumpur and Kota Baru, and is to be financed by a RM55 billion loan from China’s Exim Bank.