Mustapa: Govt yet to decide whether to resume KL-Singapore HSR project

KUALA LUMPUR: The government has not decided whether to resume the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) project given that discussion is still in its early stages.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamad said the project was cancelled after the bilateral agreement on the project lapsed on Dec 31, 2020.

However, he noted that during a meeting between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong on Nov 29, 2021, the proposal to renegotiate the KL-Singapore HSR project was raised.

"In response, the Singapore prime minister expressed openness to fresh proposals from Malaysia on the HSR project.

"I would like to stress that the possibility of reviving the KL-Singapore HSR project is still in the early stages of discussion," Mustapa said during the Minister's Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was replying to questions from Lim Guan Eng (Bagan-DAP) who wanted to know whether the KL-Johor Bahru HSR project would be cancelled and replaced with the proposed KL-Singapore HSR project, the estimated costs of the two projects, and whether the negotiations with Singapore would ensure a reduction in the original cost of RM100 billion to RM50 billion.