An agreement has been reached by Malaysia and China for the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project to resume following its suspension last year, The Sun Daily quotes a report by Sin Chew Daily.
Initially priced at RM66 billion, the ECRL will have its costs cut by more than RM10 billion. The report added that both countries had come to a resolution for the re-negotiated project that includes new commercial elements which will bring added benefits to local entrepreneurs and people.
An agreement will be signed ahead of prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s visit to China at the end of this month, the publication was told by its source. The chairman of the Council of Eminent Persons, Tun Daim Zainuddin, Malaysia’s representative in the negotiations, will travel to Beijing to sign the agreement.
Mahathir has been scheduled to visit China – at the invitation of Chinese premier Xi Jinping – to attend the second Belt and Road initiative summit, and the Malaysian prime minister is expected to address the summit and emphasise the country’s support for the Belt and Road initiative, the report said, adding that environmental concerns are the main reason for changes to the ECRL route.
The ECRL project was first approved in October 2016 under the then-prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, and was initially set to be handled by China Communication Constructions Company (CCCC), with financing by Export-Import Bank of China (Exim Bank of China).
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So New Malaysia now jual to China? Wasn’t that the reason why PH was against ECRL in the first place?
I don’t recall the scope of the project being the main issue back then, but it was the involvement of China into this project. So what now, Uturn again? Next are they going to say that ECRL is going to bring benefits to the East Coast people, the same people that Tun said are only poor farmers and fishermen that won’t see any benefits from ECRL?
The bigger picture is, MY still needed public infrastructure developments to be a developed country. Ridded off rampant corruption is first step, my heart damn ache to see luxury yacht Equanimity bought with Rakyat hard earned money and tonnes of chanel Birkin, jewlery handbags
Everyday raising the same alleged issues. Already 10 months bro, it’s time for you to start questioning your sources of info. Don’t everyday chant the same conspiracy.
Atleast talk about something certain like the bugatti the oldman’s son owns.
Agreement has been made. That is known as commitment.
Some work has started. That has involved money.
Its hard to pull out from the agreement, the compensation required to pay can be too high.
10 bila reduction is good enough. Besides, we already secure a loan from Japan with very low interest rates which can be used to pay back exim bank of China.
The last time we borrowed from Japan, it took us 30 years instead of the projected 10, to pay it back. Looks like we never learn our lesson by reviving dark history and bringing back those whom created them. Facepalm!
@Spin Too Much if follow your analogy that just blindly followed what being discussed without slashing the cost of development, government will be overspent. Furthermore, the contract has been signed beforehand during the BN era that majority of the infrastructure are over specification which is not necessary. There is also not much of working opportunities given by China if according to the previous contract, this is why a renegotiation for the term and condition and ensure that if leverage more of local supplier rather than using all China, our government can also get taxes to relieve the expenses of the government while it creates more working opportunities to our local people as another route to enhance our skillset. If just following what you critisize for the sake of critisize without putting some thought, our country will be in deep shit. Wake up la!!
U-turn, jangan tak u-turn
aduh kereta api mane bleh u-turn!
kereta api duwa kapala gerak depan atao blakang je.
Why said trains can’t U Turn? Ever heard of a marshalling yard?
LGE such a brilliant guy… when he think about ECRL, he will think for negeri sembilan as well. It brings so much benefits for Negeri sembilan people. Can’t wait for it.
Something is fishy here…IT’s called the East Coast Rail Line…but now included Negeri Sembilan? Is Negeri Sembilan considered and East Coast state?
And since LGE extended the ECRL to Negeri Sembilan, why not go all the way to Malacca and Johor? Are they not supporting the PH Government too? You can save a lot of money by ‘cost avoidance’ and no need to build the high speed railway system to Johor Baharu.
Hidup TDM! Cheaper ECRL & more palm oils to Chn
Ecrl double lane under BN RM55 billion. Ecrl under PH RM56 billion single lane.. Save rm10 billion.
ECRL, LRT3 and many others all got bloated cost. All cost went double.
This is typical BN style of Governance where all kronies line their pocket up.
Now you see big projects all going to be HALF PRICE only.
Ini macam cerita Bollywood tari-menari dan last-last buat UTURN! Ha ha ha! Kuchi kuchi kuchi! Hota hota hei!
ECRL a brilliant project in connecting Pantai Timur hinterlands to major cities in Semenanjung and Port Klang. Malaysia will become shipping logistics powerhouse and No.1 palm oil exporter again. Kudos Tun Daim.
Great idea ECRL from tun daim
LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT..!!!
• PH Govt had claimed the ECRL price tag was actually… RM66bil…to RM81bil… to RM100bil… to RM130billion… according to various media reports.
• BN Govt previously had put a price tag of only RM55billion for the ECRL.
• NOW, according to the article above… PH Govt claims the ECRL which was at an initial cost of RM66billion will get a cut of RM10billion which then makes the final cost at RM56billion…?! WTF…?!!!
Don’t need to look too far.
Current government can investigate on bankrupt KTM for the past 50 years. They need to find out why until today zero maintenance has been done on the rail.
Do you know why the rail slows down just to pass certain points every few km?
Rm1b increase due to stop operation from Mei 2018
Has the feasibility study been conducted for the scale down? Have we re-tendered to get the purported “Half price” bids? What are the changes made other than scale down (reduced scope) of the project ie who are the new parties going in and who went out? what is the background of these new parties?
Don’t just approve and announce. Be transparent.
Its all direct nego between MOF, project owner (MRL) and maincon (CCCC). If wan re-tender (open tender), MOF/ MRL has to terminate the exiting contract (approved during the outgoing gov regime) whereby MOF/GOV has to bear the cost for termination of contract (rakyat $$). This compensation cost was not shared though.
if this train & service is not as organize & fast as taiwan hsr, japan shinkansen or china hsr then it would be a waste of money to build something is not efficient
This is not the HSR to Singapore project. This is the ECRL to connect train line to Thailand and all the way to Kunming. This is part of the OBOR Initiative. Get the facts right.
When on earth la we had an efficient CONSISTENT service. U must be joking for ECRL to be comparable to countries that rely on public transport as the main choice of transportation. Look at LRT Kelana Jaya line (one of highly commuted & best rail lines we have), in terms of waiting time during peak hours is under 3mins or so.. Its supper efficient if u ask me, but the service does breakdown every other week… Wit that kind of passenger volume, they cant event maintain the service efficiently. Now u wan ask ECRL (must be only peak durin holiday seasons) for such service provided by Taiwan, Japan , China railway companies, lol.. n i guess the main idea of Ecrl line is to run fright trains, not commuter trains, isnt that right?
Change in scope gives a railway with 80% less capacity, single lines can carry maybe 2 trains in each direction per hour, double track 12.
And we still pay as much.
How is this good for the chinese road belt initiative? Not even one container ship a day can use it.
Something very fishy here.
Ercl will going to Rantau according to reduce the cost
Cut now….later… VO will top up to RM100bil
Look at Economic Report published by Ministry of Finance every year, table on Federal Government Revenue, how much taxes from Petroleum every year. 2011 was 27.7 billion, 2012 was 33.9billion, 2013 was 29.75billion, 2014 was 27billion. Shouldn’t Malaysia built ECRL to stimulate the economic growth of east cost states? Instead of only the west coast state enjoin the economic growth? Shouldn’t we encourage equality in economic growth of all states?