In a bid to reduce the Federal Government’s debt of over RM1 trillion, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he would try to cancel three large-scale projects during his trip to China from 17-21 August, reported The Edge.
Aside from being backed by the Chinese government, these major developments are funded by loans from China, and were approved during the term of former prime minister Najib Razak.
In particular, Dr Mahathir believes that Malaysia can do away with the RM55 billion East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) as well as the Multi-Product Pipeline (MPP) and Trans-Sabah Gas Pipeline (TSGP), which have a combined cost of RM9.41 billion.
“We don’t think we need those (ECRL, MPP and TSGP). We don’t think they are viable. So if we can, we would like to just drop the projects,” said Dr Mahathir in an interview with The Associated Press (AP).
However, some of the project funding has already been disbursed and could be hard to get back. If cancelling the projects isn’t possible, Mahathir said they need to at least put them on hold.
Previously, Malaysia’s Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng criticised MPP and TSGP, as RM8.25 billion or 87.7 percent of their total cost has already been paid to the contractor, even though only 11.4 percent of MPP and 14.5 percent of TSGP has been built as of 31 March 2018.
The ECRL also ignited controversy as its costs translates to about RM80 million per km of rail track, while other railway projects in the country were built at an average cost of RM50 million per km of rail track.
Meanwhile, Dr Mahathir reiterated that Malaysia cannot currently afford to build the RM110 billion Kuala Lumpur–Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR).
“We cannot afford it. If the price is brought down within our means, then maybe we’ll go ahead,” he explained.
On Saturday (11 August), Malaysian Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali officially met with Singapore Transport Minister and Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure Khaw Boon Wan to discuss the HSR.
“I explained Malaysia’s position on the project,” said Datuk Seri Azmin.
A representative from Malaysian Prime Minister’s Office said their “position is to have the rail project postponed pending review.”
Image sourced from Tanwir.my
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