Singapore yet to hear officially from Putrajaya on HSR

KUALA LUMPUR (July 9): The Republic of Singapore is still waiting for an official reply from Malaysia about the status of the mega Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail (HSR) project.

On June 1, the city state requested from Putrajaya to clarify Malaysia's position on the project.

According to the Singapore broadsheet daily The Straits Times, the republic’s transport minister Khaw Boon Wan said to that country’s parliament: “to date, Singapore had still not received a reply from the Malaysian Government", Bernama reported.

Khaw said statements made by Malaysian ministers and Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad via press interviews on the scrapping of the HSR, "has not been followed through with any official communication to us".

"At this point therefore, we have been left with no choice but to continue performing in accordance with the bilateral agreement, and thus continue to incur more costs," Khaw was reported as saying by The Straits Times.

According to the same report, Singapore had to pay more than S$6 million (RM17.87 million) in June and “it is expected to incur another S$6 million in July”.

"These costs will increase rapidly with time. From August to end-December 2018, we will need to spend at least S$40 million more.

"Because the costs that we have incurred will add to the total amount of compensation, it is in Malaysia's own interest to officially inform us of its position on the HSR project early, to minimise the amount involved," Khaw explained.

The report also said that Singapore foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan told his country’s parliament that “Singapore would deal with the question of compensation for costs incurred in accordance with the binding agreement signed with Malaysia and international law”.

"The Singapore government has a duty to safeguard public funds by recovering these costs," he said.