DISCUSSIONS about the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) would now be between the governments of China and Malaysia, but must be done away from the “public glare”, said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng. 

He said the matter was discussed in the cabinet meeting today, and had decided that discussions will be held confidentially between Beijing and Putrajaya.

“In the cabinet meeting today this matter was discussed and cabinet made a decision to adopt the statement made by the prime minister yesterday that the matter would still undergo negotiation. 

“In view of the sensitivity of the contract, we should allow discussions, which will now be government to government, to be held away from public glare,” he told reporters at the ministry today. 

Lim said the cabinet also decided that only Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad can make any announcement regarding ECRL. 

He said a timeframe has been set for the negotiations, but he refused to elaborate further. 

“Of course there is a timeframe but we let the discussions between both governments to be held privately,” said Lim. 

Yesterday Dr Mahathir said Putrajaya wants to cut back on expenses it could not afford, referring to the ECRL, which has been estimated to cost more than RM80 billion. 

He said the current government is currently burdened by heavy debt and have to cut back on some expenditures incurred by the previous government. 

“We don’t want to frustrate or throw out a contract, but we are really tight in terms of finance,” Dr Mahathir told reporters after launching the National Anti-Corruption Plan in Putrajaya yesterday.

He however, declined to confirm whether ECRL has been cancelled.

Confusion has reigned over the status of the east coast rail project after unnamed government sources were reported as saying two weeks ago that Putrajaya has terminated the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) contract awarded to China Communications Construction Co Ltd (CCCC).

On January 24, Dr Mahathir said he was unaware of the cancellation of the contract.

Two days, later Economic Affair Minister Azmin Ali said the cabinet had decided to cancel the contract because of the RM500 million annual interest payments. Later the same day, Lim said he was shocked over the statement, and said Azmin was not privy Dr Mahathir’s decision on the contract.

Earlier this month, China’s ambassador to Malaysia, Bai Tian, said project may recommence only after a report by the companies involved is finalised and presented to the Malaysian and Chinese governments.

ECRL was launched by the Najib Razak government in 2017 and was supposed to link Pengkalan Kubor in Kelantan on the east coast of the peninsula with Port Klang in Selangor on the west coast.

Upon taking power after last year’s general election, Pakatan Harapan said the rail link would be one of the high-profile infrastructure projects that would be reviewed over suspicions that the cost had been inflated.

The Wall Street Journal reported, citing minutes from undisclosed meetings, that China had offered to bail out Najib’s brainchild 1Malaysia Development Bhd in return for sweetheart deals linked to Beijing’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative in 2016

Najib has denied such charges. – January 30, 2019.