KUALA LUMPUR, April 4 — Malaysians receive more or better transport services for the same outlay as neighbours in Southeast Asia, according to a report by research firm FT Confidential Research.

According to the outfit linked to the Financial Times paper, Malaysian spending for transportation was comparable to neighbouring countries, but user here enjoyed a higher quality than what others get for the same amount of money.

"Indeed, Malaysians spend less as a proportion of their income than Asean rivals when it comes to transport,” said the report.

This comes as Malaysia was ranked 11th best among 138 countries when it comes to transport infrastructure in the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Competitive Index 2016-2017 released September last year.

Malaysia scored 5.7 overall in the transport infrastructure index, with 7 being the best score.

"Malaysia’s high WEF scoring can be explained by its having made large infrastructure investments earlier than other Asean countries,” the FT firm said.

It pointed out that Malaysia’s spending on transport had increased to 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) last year compared to 0.6 per cent in 2015, and expected to at least match that figure this year.

"One landmark project is the Sungai Buloh-Kajang mass transit line, a driverless commuter rail system that will connect an area north-west of the capital Kuala Lumpur with Kajang, a fast-developing town located to the south-east,” it said.

The report also noted, however, that this "good fortune” caused Malaysia to have the highest debt-to-GDP level among top Asean nations including Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.