KUALA LUMPUR, April 27 — The high-speed rail line linking Kuala Lumpur to Singapore is unlikely to be completed until two years after its original 2020 deadline, Singapore’s Business Times reported today.

According to an anonymous source, unresolved issues in the complex project between the two nations that could cost as much as RM72 billion made it too ambitious to expect the project to be finished in five years’ time.

“This (the delay) is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s a huge project. More time is needed to sort some aspects out so that it can take off smoothly,” the source close to the project told the Singaporean business paper.

The Business Times also added that the works packages for the project may now be awarded through negotiated tenders rather than open bidding, although it said this was not yet confirmed.

It was initially expected that work could begin as early as the coming third quarter, but with the Cabinet only approving MyHSR Corp — the Finance Ministry unit that will execute the project — last week, a 2016 start is now more likely.

According to previous estimates, the entire project could take between six and seven years to complete.

Last November, Land Public Transport Commission chairman Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar insisted that the rail line would be completed by 2020 as scheduled, although he later conceded that this was contingent on when the project finally begins.

The 2020 deadline is significant to Malaysia for sentimental reasons as it is linked to the country’s Vision 2020 to become a developed nation; Singapore achieved the status in the 90s and now has the third-highest per capita income in the world.

Malaysia and Singapore agreed to the rapid rail link between the two capitals following a retreat between Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his Singaporean counterpart, Lee Hsien Loong, in 2013.

The planned high-speed rail link is expected to cover 300 kilometres between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, and cut travel time to just 90 minutes.

Seven stops have been identified in Malaysia, namely Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Seremban, Ayer Keruh, Batu Pahat, Muar and Nusajaya.

The project’s actual cost has not been announced, but reports have placed it as possibly ranging from US$8 billion to US$ 24 billion (RM24 billion to RM72 billion).

Japan has been actively lobbying to be a partner in the Malaysia-Singapore high-speed rail project, but other countries such as China and South Korea are said to have approached Malaysia as well.