KUALA LUMPUR — Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim is planning to seek funds from Chinese investors for the multibillion dollar high-speed rail (HSR) project between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, according to a Bloomberg report.
The report, which quoted anonymous sources, said Sultan Ibrahim is looking towards a Chinese state-owned company, and is currently in China for a four-day state visit which began on Thursday at the invitation of President Xi Jinping.
The king’s delegation includes Transport Minister Anthony Loke, according to Sultan Ibrahim’s Facebook, and also representatives from YTL Corp, according to Bloomberg.
YTL Corp is one of the three companies shortlisted for the project, according to a report from The Edge in March.
Sultan Ibrahim supports the HSR project, which aims to cut travel time between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore from four hours to 90 minutes.
The HSR was initially expected to cost as much as RM100 billion but there have been several downward price revisions since.
It was postponed by Malaysia in 2018 due to high costs, and then formally scrapped in 2021, resulting in Putrajaya paying RM300 million in compensation to Singapore.
Putrajaya, revived it last year on condition it would not be public-funded.
Last year, Sultan Ibrahim in an interview with Singapore’s daily The Straits Times proposed that a private consortium fund the project and operate it for 30 years to recoup expenses before handing it to the Malaysian government.
Sultan Ibrahim also said in the interview that the HSR project should be aligned so that the border crossing is through Forest City, an integrated residential development and private town located in Iskandar Puteri, Johor.
Singapore’s approval is needed for the rail link project to commence, with the city state’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong reportedly said in June that he is willing to hear new proposals on the project.
Istana Negara, the Ministry of Transport, YTL Corp and the Chinese Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comments made by Bloomberg.
Loke, meanwhile, said previously that Putrajaya’s policy on the rail link project is to have it led by a consortium that is at least 51% Malaysian-owned.
In March, it was reported that MyHSR Corporation Sdn Bhd, which is wholly owned by Malaysia’s Finance Ministry, was evaluating concept proposals for the project from major players in the rail industry. Besides the YTL group, MMC Corporation, Berjaya Group and Malaysian Resources Corporation Bhd were mentioned. – September 20, 2024