KUALA LUMPUR, May 31 — Financial constraints should not be the reason to scrap the High Speed Rail (HSR) project as Putrajaya should have renegotiated its terms with Singapore first, Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said today.
The ex-Johor mentri besar and current state Umno liaison chief said the government must bear in mind that the cost of such mega project would significantly multiply if it was to be executed in the future.
“In short, there is not one particular time that be considered as the perfect time to execute a mega project like HSR because it is a need.
“Such need should not be sacrificed for political reasons,” he said in a statement.
He said the government now owes an explanation to the people of Johor, seeing as the infrastructure project was initially proposed to become a “game changer” in the developments of the Southern state.
“Not only it would ease the people’s movements to and from Singapore but it would drive many other economic activities along its route.
“Muar, for instance, can be elevated as an Education Hub and Malaysian Furniture City through the interconnectivity provided by HSR,” he said.
Mohamed Khaled also alleged that the cancellation was done without any prior consultations with the governments of Johor and Singapore, which he deemed “very disappointing”.
“This is disappointing because both parties are the biggest stakeholders in said project.
“Especially for Johoreans because the decision would stunt all development growth when the state needs world-class infrastructure to become Malaysia’s new economic power,” he said.
He also said that the cancellation would incur unnecessary financial losses to the country from having to pay a hefty compensation of some RM500 million.
“This would be a waste of money because we will be forking out RM500 million in exchange for nothing in return.
“It is not easy to negotiate compensations since the decision to axe it was made unilaterally,” he added.
