Prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed said that the government has yet to make a decision regarding the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), and that negotiations between Malaysia and China are still ongoing, according to a report by The Star.
“At this moment, no final decisions have been made. Some decisions were made but we have to find a better solution. We are still negotiating,” said the premier. “We feel that we should give time to both sides [Malaysia and China] to come up with a solution to the problem. There may be other options – we are open.
“We are still studying the costs. Apparently, there are offers by others which will cost less. The previous government gave a very high estimate on ECRL.”
The comments came after finance minister Lim Guan Eng and economic affairs minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali butted heads over the project, with the former saying that the fate of the ECRL is still uncertain, and the latter claiming that it had been scrapped over high costs.
Mahathir said that the conflicting remarks were due to the media interpreting the ministers’ statements differently. “Both [ministers] are right but the timing [stated] was wrong. The minister who attended the Cabinet meeting made a statement that was not exactly reported in the media.
“The media reported something else and stressed different points. What he was explaining was that we need to have good relations with China because China will be a partner with us, a source of foreign direct investment. The conflicting information is because the media interpreted his [the minister’s] statement differently,” said Mahathir.
The project, which was initially projected to cost RM81 billion, was approved under then-prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in October 2016, with construction set to be handled by China Communication Constructions Company (CCCC) and financing by Export-Import Bank of China (Exim Bank of China).
Malaysia would be able to secure the loan from the bank providing that CCCC builds the railway. The railway was planned to stretch some 688 km from Port Klang in Selangor to Pengkalan Kubor in Kelantan in two stages.
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Chill.., no rush Tun. At least theres no data leaked
Better to just cancel it. So many companies have come forward to do it for RM20 billion instead of RM81 billion
So, Rm61 billion goes where? You and me know the answer
CCCC was blacklisted by World Bank for heavy duty cheating and yet, our previous Government chose this company.
Why does anyone choose a company that was blacklisted by the WORLD BANK?
Go ask our Fin Minister. He was in charge at Penang when they selected CCCC for the undersea tunnel project.
60 years of corruption cannot be healed in 9 months. Pls take your time Tun. No rush. We also don’t need ECRL. Better to repair potholes more worth it
What repairing potholes? I see plenty still there because we elected leaders that prioritise funding to setup another national car project.
What data are you talking about?
Use ur brain,we pay interest due to the delay, what’s there to chill? Everybody suffer la..
Cancel je. Tak payah bagi muka punya. Who asked them to reducing our palm oil import and instead getting from Indon?
Foolishness. EU have banned our palm oil so what you going to do about it? Stop buying Mercedes, BMWs, and Audis? What a laugh. ROFL!
Don’t be dumb by associating with EU. Just because EU have upper hand in this debacle doesn’t mean that China have it too. China needs this ECRL project more than us.
In which dream of yours that told you China needs us more than we need them? Or in fact does China really needs us? If China agreed to go ahead with Kra Canal, it’s the end of us! You think they need us? LMAO!
In you which dream I say China need us more? Aisayman … bodoh tu simpan sikit.
All the East Coast fellows want to pay tambang bas RM40 to KL also they find it so tak mampu, how they want to pay RM300 ECRL ticket???
Bro… China tak jadi beli minyak sawit M’sia sebab M’sia yang gantung projek ECRL dan paip TSGP. Biasanya perjanjian G2G… (Govt to Govt)… ia bukan hanya pasal kos kewangan projek semata2 tetapi juga perdagangan dua hala.
Kalau ECRL disambung kemungkinan besar China kembali beli minyak sawit M’sia… tetapi ia semua perlu bergantung kepada keadaan dan masa… kalau lewat dan China terima bekalan sepenuhnya sprti dijanjikan dari Indon… maka meloponglah.
Kemungkinan besar? You want to commit on a multi-bilion project just to bet on kemungkinan besar?
Anyway, project belum cancel pun dia dah tak beli palm oil dari kita. Suruh dia beli balik dari kita dulu baru bincang.
Wow, forcing customers to buy your products? Which sales strategy school did you go to? The Mafia? The Cartel? You think they are hard up for your products?
Then ma cancel the project lor. You are not the only one can do railway project.
LOL oil palm only grows in Malaysia?
Buyers will always get the best package deal from sellers.
Indonesia won the palm oil business simply bcoz it has vast resources, and doesn’t needs to import foreign manpower, more competitive price package deal.
BTW, malaysian companies doing oil palm plantation over there are having prosperity business.
Then ma cancel the rail project lor.
Msia cancel project first,then only China buy from Indon,our palm oil more expensive & more refine,who wanna buy ,if not China give face?
Just to maintain the value of shareholders.. Haha the great daddykasi!
You still live in the 80’s bro? You still think the rakyat stupid..many have regrets voted for you.
Don’t say that. Later the PH resident troll will come and hentam your comment.
Many people are happy voting for Pakatan. Go to FB and Youtube comment section, you can see many satisfied people. Those who complain are BN cybertroopers
Siapa PM? Kamu kah? Lim Guan Eng kah? Azmin Ali kah?
NNCP new national car project apa cerita? Kata announce 28 January 2019.
Will announce 28 January 2020 or 28 January 2021, or 28 january 2022.. Errr……..
Instead of revealing any information on the claims made previously, we are incessantly fed with the question if it is cancelled or not. Not only in Thestar but now even Paultan is used as such platform. Please focus on revealing the truth about the anti-china campaign instead, which will give the answer of whether it should be cancelled.
The project as discussed and confirmed between the former Govt and China contractors is only RM55bil. It is only payable in installments when the project is completed in 2024.
Various Ministers including TunM have been quoting RM61bil… RM80bil… RM81bil… more than RM100bil… without any real tangible evidence so far.
The project for public transportation and infarstructure is needed for the east coast to prosper economically. West coast double tracking is well underway to complete by 2022. The Padang Besar to Gemas have seen ridership surpass 4mil passengers a year in 2017. Connectivity is vital for economies to grow and prosper.
By the way… Govt is still paying toll conssesions after 26 years since 1993.. and the country is not bankrupt yet.
Government is not rushing the ECRL because currently busy planning for the third national car. third national car more “untung” business than ECRL.
Improve public transportation is better than new car project. Good for environment and economics also. Less emissions, less fuel consumption, less expenditure for expansion or new roads, less road congestion. Make it available, accessible, affordable and reliable then people will use it.