Malaysia pays Singapore 76.3 mln USD for costs incurred in terminated HSR project

Singapore (VNA) - Malaysia has paid more than 102 million SGD (76.3 million USD) in compensation to Singapore for the terminated Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) project, ministers from both countries said on March 29.

The payment has been made to Singapore for costs incurred for the development of the HSR project, and in relation to the extension of suspension of the project, Singapore's Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung and Malaysia's Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy) Mustapa Mohamed said in a joint statement.

"The two countries reached an amicable agreement on the amount following a verification process by the Government of Malaysia. This amount represents a full and final settlement in relation to the termination of the bilateral agreement," the statement read.

"Both countries remain committed to maintaining good relations and fostering close cooperation for the mutual benefit of the peoples of the two countries."

On January 1, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Malaysian counterpart Muhyiddin Yassin issued a joint statement to announce the termination of the HSR project. Malaysia had allowed the bilateral agreement to lapse on the deadline of December 31, 2020, after both sides could not agree to changes it had proposed, The Straits Times reported.

The planned 350km rail line, which both sides agreed to build in 2013, was to have run from a terminal station in Bandar Malaysia in downtown Kuala Lumpur to a terminal in Jurong East.

The HSR was slated to have seven stations, and would have cut travel time between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to 90 minutes, compared with over four hours by car and about five hours end-to-end by air.

Both countries signed a legally binding bilateral agreement on the project in December 2016, witnessed by PM Lee and then Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Singapore commenced work on the project, including appointing a firm to design its HSR infrastructure and later calling an international joint tender with Malaysia for an assets company.

But the project was later suspended at Malaysia’s request, after a change in the Malaysian government following the May 2018 General Election./.