Malaysia and Singapore agree to revive rail project in 2020

Mahathir government to pay $11m for deferring construction, easing tension

Malaysia's Minister of Economic Affairs Mohamed Azmin Ali, right, and Singapore's Minister for Infrastructure and Minister for Transport Khaw Boon Wan agree to restart the construction of the high-speed rail in May 2020.

CK TAN, Nikkei staff writer

September 5, 2018 19:18 JST

KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysia and Singapore agreed on Wednesday to resume the construction of a 350 km high-speed rail on May 31, 2020 on the basis that the city state is compensated 15 million Singapore dollars ($11 million).

Singapore had already started work on the 110 billion ringgit ($27 billion) project that was supposed to cut travel time between the two cities to just 90 minutes. But the new government led by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad was reluctant to proceed after it discovered that national debt had ballooned to over a trillion ringgit under the previous administration.