Malaysia Nears Deal With China to Revive Scrapped Rail Project

[beijingwalker]

Malaysia Nears Deal With China to Revive Scrapped Rail Project
By Anisah Shukry

2019年2月19日 GMT+8 下午6:22

Malaysia is making progress in talks with China to revive a high-speed rail project that Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s government said it would cancel, according to Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah.

China is willing to reduce the $20 billion price tag for the East Coast Rail Link project and talks are “in the last mile,” Saifuddin said in an interview Tuesday at his office near Kuala Lumpur. Discussions have been led by Daim Zainuddin, an adviser to Mahathir, with the aim of reaching a smaller project size and cost, he said.

“It is not canceled until and unless we can’t settle on the numbers,” Saifuddin said. “China understands our constraint and they’re willing to scale down the size of the project and the cost. The discussion is probably in the last mile.”

Since returning to power last May, Mahathir has tested Malaysia’s relations with China. Besides the railway, he has also canceled a gas pipeline project backed by China, criticized foreign ownership in a housing development marketed to Chinese investors, and warned against “a new version of colonialism” on a trip to Beijing.

China’s state-run Global Times newspaper last year blasted Mahathir’s “piercing” remarks, saying they “will definitely make Chinese investors worry about Malaysian public opinion and whether such an atmosphere will affect investment in the country.”

Mahathir struck a conciliatory tone last month and said the government canceled the rail project only due to cost, leading to renewed talks. And members of his cabinet have declined to confirm or deny a Wall Street Journal report that said senior Chinese leaders offered Mahathir’s predecessor help bailing out troubled state fund 1MDB in exchange for stakes in projects.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...al-with-china-to-revive-scrapped-rail-project

 

[Menthol]

Because of the media influence, many of the politicians smear and use China as scapegoat.

But at the end, when they are in the office, they know the true that China is the best partner they can have.

 

[OIO]

Malaysia Nears Deal With China to Revive Scrapped Rail Project
By Anisah Shukry

2019年2月19日 GMT+8 下午6:22

Malaysia is making progress in talks with China to revive a high-speed rail project that Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s government said it would cancel, according to Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah.

China is willing to reduce the $20 billion price tag for the East Coast Rail Link project and talks are “in the last mile,” Saifuddin said in an interview Tuesday at his office near Kuala Lumpur. Discussions have been led by Daim Zainuddin, an adviser to Mahathir, with the aim of reaching a smaller project size and cost, he said.

“It is not canceled until and unless we can’t settle on the numbers,” Saifuddin said. “China understands our constraint and they’re willing to scale down the size of the project and the cost. The discussion is probably in the last mile.”

Since returning to power last May, Mahathir has tested Malaysia’s relations with China. Besides the railway, he has also canceled a gas pipeline project backed by China, criticized foreign ownership in a housing development marketed to Chinese investors, and warned against “a new version of colonialism” on a trip to Beijing.

China’s state-run Global Times newspaper last year blasted Mahathir’s “piercing” remarks, saying they “will definitely make Chinese investors worry about Malaysian public opinion and whether such an atmosphere will affect investment in the country.”

Mahathir struck a conciliatory tone last month and said the government canceled the rail project only due to cost, leading to renewed talks. And members of his cabinet have declined to confirm or deny a Wall Street Journal report that said senior Chinese leaders offered Mahathir’s predecessor help bailing out troubled state fund 1MDB in exchange for stakes in projects.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...al-with-china-to-revive-scrapped-rail-project

railway from Singapore to China was proposed by mahathir first.
it will change the area dramatically.

 

[rott]

@beijingwalker, you should be more aggressive. @Jlaw will love you.

 

[rambro]

Been awhile since i hear any good news

 

[rott]

Been awhile since i hear any good news

Rambro, are you Malaysian Chinese?

 

[rambro]

Rambro, are you Malaysian Chinese?

That is for you to find out :3

 

[rott]

That is for you to find out :3

Your post made me cringe.

 

[lcloo]

railway from Singapore to China was proposed by mahathir first.
it will change the area dramatically.

Mahathir's vision was a rail link from Singapore to Malaysia and then to Thailand and onwards to China which is economically sound.

This East Coast Rail on the other hand was proposed by the former government which link Kuala Lumpur to the sparsely populated, most backward and poor states of Terengganu and Kelantan, two states control by opposition political party, the extremely religious Islamic party PAS. And it is not link to Singapore or Thailand. Therefore, it is economically unsustainable for a high tech high speed trains.

However, I do hope that a win-win agreement can be achieved, with reduced project cost, and an affordable slow speed low budget trains for the mostly low income residence of the East coast states.

 

[Nan Yang]

Mahathir's vision was a rail link from Singapore to Malaysia and then to Thailand and onwards to China which is economically sound.

This East Coast Rail on the other hand was proposed by the former government which link Kuala Lumpur to the sparsely populated, most backward and poor states of Terengganu and Kelantan, two states control by opposition political party, the extremely religious Islamic party PAS. And it is not link to Singapore or Thailand. Therefore, it is economically unsustainable for a high tech high speed trains.

However, I do hope that a win-win agreement can be achieved, with reduced project cost, and an affordable slow speed low budget trains for the mostly low income residence of the East coast states.

Should link to Singapore via Gemas. Lots of Singaporeans love the beaches and islands off Gemas and further North East.

 

[GeraltofRivia]

By delaying the railway project and other China related projects, Malaysia has lost significant interest and its damage maybe beyond repair in the fierce and invisible battle with Singapore for the domination of trading and commerce in South East Asia. The intital vision of the plan, with a complete system of transportation (high speed railway), energy (gas pipeline), ports (Melaka), and manufacturing industry park, was to transform Malaysia into a regional economical hub and powerhouse. If the project materializes, it will push Malaysia into economical stardom and may overtake Singapore as a regional hub.

The Singapore leadership has clearly sense the danger of the development and they reacted quickly. You have to give them credit for their political agility, which probably comes from their survival instinct. Over the last 2 years, we have seen a quick turnaround of Singapore China relationship in the signing of free trade agreements, which provides Singapore low tariff for its goods and preferential access to China’s high value market for example healthcare. This solidified the position of Singapore as the dominant center of economy. In this context, the strategic value of Melaka port, which was visioned to replace Singapore, has been significantly reduced, if not become redundant altogether.

The lack of strategic vision not only cost Malaysia in terms of direct development cost, it also now has to compete with other ASEAN countries for similar kinds of project. Thailand has started a similar one called Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) that aims to develop the eastern provinces into leading economical zones.

 

[oprih]

Good news but be wary of the butthurt indians.