Instead, the government has agreed that any form of the project will be carried out based on open tender, said Mustapa Mohamed, minister for economic affairs, in a television interview this evening.
“This has been agreed on, so speculation that we have chosen the companies (that will be carrying out the project) would not surface,” he said in an interview on Astro Awani.
He added that the government will be carrying out more detailed studies on any alternatives to the HSR, following speculation that Malaysia has agreed to an alternative KL-Johor Bharu project with medium-speed trains.
“More detailed studies will be carried out on the future direction of the project, to ensure that any decision made would be in the nation’s best interest,” he said.
He added that the decision to allow the Bilateral Agreement with Singapore to lapse on Dec 31 was also based on a detailed study. The government felt it was best to propose a new model for the project to protect the national interest and to save the rakyat’s money.
Originally, the HSR KL-Singapore project will be done through an Assets Company (Assets Co) model. It was reported that the AssetsCo meant a best-in-class industry player will be appointed through an open and transparent international tender to supply the train system, operate the network, and to ensure that appropriate priority is given to cross-border HSR service vis-a-vis Malaysia’s domestic service.
The AssetsCo would also be accountable to both governments.
Mustapa said the study found that the AssetCo model would have been too costly especially while Malaysia was still battling the Covid-19 pandemic.
He also said that the government will announce the termination compensation amount to be paid to Singapore following the collapse of the deal once the amount has been finalised.
Singapore’s transport minister Ong Ye Kung said the republic has spent over S$270 million in preparation for the HSR project so far.
Mustapa said the government believed the termination compensation amount would be “much lower” than that amount. “We are confident that the compensation will be much lower than S$270 million. And it has not been finalised. Once it has been finalised, the government will announce it to the rakyat as this is the rakyat’s money,” he said.