THE East Coast Rail Line (ECRL) is progressing despite Malaysia’s review of the RM55 billion project, its ambassador to Malaysia Bai Tian said.

“The project has started and progress is smooth. The embassy has not received any notice of changes to the project,” he told reporters at the National Zoo today where he attended the unveiling of a baby giant panda born in January.

The baby panda’s parents are on a 10-year loan from China to Malaysia to commemorate 40 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had said the government will review costly projects, including the ECRL.

On Thursday, Bai Tian visited Dr Mahathir at his office at the Perdana Leadership Foundation in Putrajaya and affirmed China’s continued cooperation with Malaysia.

“China has always supported Chinese companies investing in Malaysia as long as they meet the requirements of the law and Malaysia’s cultural practices and adhere to the business principles and standards of international contracts,” Bai said when asked about the visit.

In an interview with business weekly The Edge published today, Dr Mahathir said the ECRL project would be reviewed as it had a “strange” arrangement whereby the loan for Malaysia to build the project was kept abroad.

The RM55 billion loan taken by Malaysia is from the Export-Import Bank of China and is paid to the Chinese contractor of the project, state-owned China Communications Construction Co Ltd.

Dr Mahathir told the paper that this had led to suspicions that the money was being used to pay for 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s debts and to buy certain companies. – May 26, 2018.