PETALING JAYA: The government will save RM16.51 billion from the realigned East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), the transport ministry told the Dewan Rakyat.
“This realignment saves a lot of money because the original cost of this project back in 2017 was RM66.78 billion (including the Serendah Bypass) compared with the current cost, which is RM50.27 billion,” the ministry said in a written reply to Lim Guan Eng (PH-Bagan) yesterday.
The amount saved (RM16.51 billion) is less than what the previous Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration said it could save on the project.
In his question to the transport ministry, Lim said PH was able to bring down the cost of developing the ECRL by RM21.5 billion back in 2019.
The then PH government signed an agreement with the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) in 2019, under which the construction cost of the first and second phases of the rail project was reduced from RM65.5 billion to RM44 billion.
The rail alignment under the third phase of the project, from Temerloh to Port Klang, is still being finalised.
ECRL was launched in August 2017 by then prime minister Najib Razak. The project’s plan back then was to link the Integrated Transport Terminal (ITT) in Gombak, Selangor, to Kota Bharu, Kelantan.
Najib was reported to have said that the ECRL would also reduce travelling time between the two coasts to four hours compared with eight hours currently.