PUTRAJAYA, July 19 — Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan said Malaysia is set on completing the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) within 10 years.

The newly-appointed minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of the Economic Planning Unit said the project will not be affected by factors like the economic and political situation in the country.

“I don’t think any political turmoil or economic crisis would delay the process of a good effort for both countries,” he told reporters today when met after the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between both countries.

The signing was also witnessed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his Singaporean counterpart, Lee Hsien Loong.

In his speech, Lee acknowledged the challenges posed by the accelerated timeframe, noting that the Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) project in Singapore took more than a decade to complete.

Abdul Rahman was confident that the deadline could be met, saying that the only hurdle now was to finalise the terms and conditions with the Singaporean government.

The Kota Belud MP also said the financing for the rail project would be shared between both countries.

“You must remember the length of the track, much of it will be in Malaysia. 300 over kilometres will be here and only 15 kilometres in Singapore, but we are not looking at the length, of course we look at cost.

“Building 15km underground in Singapore would probably cost as much. It will be an equitable fair percentages for both countries,” Abdul Rahman explained.

The Umno lawmaker added that locally, the funding of the project would be divided between Putrajaya and the private sector with the government providing the infrastructure.

He also said the railway project would be able to boost economic ties between both countries and help attract foreign investors.

“What is more important is that this shows the future intertwined bond between two countries that have very robust economy in South-east Asia,” Abdul Rahman said.

The 350km rail line, which will reduce travel time between the two countries to just 90 minutes with speeds of over 300km/hour, will have eight stations — Bandar Malaysia, Putrajaya, Seremban, Ayer Keroh, Muar, Batu Pahat, Iskandar Puteri and Singapore.