DUNGUN: China’s Export-Import Bank is expected to finance 85% of a 44 billion ringgit ($10.7 billion) rail link project in Malaysia.
The project connects Malaysia’s west coast to poorer eastern states and is a key part of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, Transport Minister Loke Siew Fook said Thursday.
Loke said the 640-kilometer (400 mile) rail project will cut travel time from Kota Baru in northeast Kelantan state to the government administrative capital Putrajaya to four hours at a speed of 160 kilometers per hour (about 100 mph). By road, the trip can take at least eight hours.
The revised project will cut through five states instead of four, have 20 stations and is scheduled for completion by December 2026. It will include 30-40 tunnels and multiple viaducts, he said.
Chinese Ambassador Bai Tian said that a Malaysian study projected the rail link project could contribute 2.7% to Malaysia’s economic growth. He hailed the project as a “game-changer” that will revitalize the east coast economy and bring closer ties between Malaysia and China, its largest trading partner.
Mahathir has said the fact that the project’s cost could be slashed by 21.5 billion ringgit ($5.2 billion) showed initial projections were inflated when former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s government awarded the main contract to CCCC in 2016. Mahathir chose to renegotiate the deal rather than pay compensation of 21.78 billion ringgit ($5.3 billion).
(Agencies)
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