THE East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project can be carried out on a smaller scale if China agrees to it, said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Dr Mahathir said both China and Malaysia are still in talks over the project, which was suspended in July soon after Pakatan Harapan captured Putrajaya.

“What we are trying to do is to ensure that we will not spend much money while China will not suffer a loss,” Dr Mahathir was quoted as saying by Sin Chew Daily today.

Dr Mahathir told the daily Malaysia is in a difficult financial position and terminating the project would mean paying a huge compensation while the government is also facing a resources crunch.

This being the case, he said, Malaysia wants to make amendments to the project.

“We are negotiating – formally or informally – with them. To them, this is a profitable contract, so they are reluctant to make changes.

“But this is not easy as we are bound by the contract and cannot terminate the project easily as we have no money to pay China… We have paid a lot of money to China after the postponement,” he told the Chinese language daily. – January 2, 2019.

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