The company said in a statement that the affected staff were primarily from the non-critical departments.

“This rationalisation exercise has been carried out in accordance with the employment contracts between the staff and CCC-ECRL, and is also in compliance with all international and Malaysian laws and regulations.

“All affected staff have been compensated fairly and according to prevailing contracts.

“In addition, CCC-ECRL has also offered pay reduction and non-pay leave to other staff,” it said.

The company said it had also retained a considerable number of local staff to secure the work sites as requested by asset owner Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd (MRL).

“We are hopeful that the suspension of work is only temporary.

“We wish to continue extending our cooperation and assistance to the Malaysian government and other related authorities during the review of this project.

“We look forward to the lifting of the work suspension order as soon as possible,” it said.

The suspension of work comes in the wake of the revelation by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng that the final cost of the controversial ECRL project would be RM81 billion and that this needed to be reduced significantly for the project to be financially viable.

The company said previously that it was “upset” and regretted that “the suspension comes at this junction, as substantial work has been progressing well”. It hoped both sides would arrive at a win-win situation.

ECRL main contractor ‘upset’, hopes suspension will be lifted