Malaysia Singapore High Speed ​​Train Project Canceled

The Malaysian and Singapore Governments decided to terminate the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed ​​Train (HSR) project when they could not agree on various changes Malaysian proposed.

Malaysian Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong made a joint statement regarding the suspension of the High Speed ​​Train (HSR) project on December 31, 2020 (yesterday).

“Due to the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on the Malaysian economy, the Malaysian government proposed several changes to the HSR project. Both governments had several discussions on these changes and failed to reach an agreement. Therefore, the HSR contract expired on December 31, 2020.

In the statement made on the first morning of 2021, “The administration of both countries sat at the table to make some negotiations and the desired agreement on technical details could not be reached. Malaysia will compensate Singapore for the cancellation of the project. " expression was used.

It appears that Malaysia has to pay a compensation of RM 300 million as a result of the completion of the HSR project that will connect Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

Unlike the previous plan to connect the capitals of the two countries, Malaysia is predicted to undertake a new project, one of the busiest flight routes in the world, from Kuala Lumpur to Johor Baru.

The 90-kilometer High Speed ​​Railroad project, whose contract was signed in 2016 to reduce the journey between Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to 350 minutes, was suspended at the request of Malaysia in September 2018 before its construction started.

While project negotiations were expected to continue in 2020, the negotiations were delayed until the end of the year due to the new type of coronavirus (Kovid-19) outbreak.

In the statement of the Prime Ministry of Singapore, it was stated that the cancellation of the project will not affect the relations between the two countries negatively and said, “Our deep and multi-dimensional relations with Malaysia will continue. We will continue to cooperate closely for the common good of both countries. " It was said.