THE resumption of the East Coast Railway Link (ECRL) project will “greatly boost” the trust and confidence of China investors in Malaysia, said China’s ambassador to Malaysia.

Bai Tian said the new deal for the project would also see a spillover impact on bilateral ties between the two countries.

“It is good news for China and Malaysia.

“With the resumption of the ECRL project, Malaysia will benefit from the project. The overall bilateral relationship will benefit.

“I always believed that the resumption of the ECRL project would greatly boost the mutual trust and confidence of Chinese enterprises and potential investors in Malaysia and help attract more Chinese businesses to invest in Malaysia,” he said at a roundtable with Malaysian media at the Chinese embassy in Kuala Lumpur today.

He added that the ECRL was a good project, and once completed, would become the main artery of communication and transport linking the east and west coasts of the country.

“It will greatly beef up logistics, transportation, trade, tourism and commercial development around the line,” he added.

On Friday, Malaysia reached an agreement with China to reduce the construction cost for Phases 1 and 2 of the ECRL project to RM44 billion. The new cost is a RM21.5 billion reduction from its original cost of RM65.5 billion.

Under the new deal, the train route will be shorter by 40km and includes stops in Negri Sembilan. The previous route through Bentong was scrapped.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad suspended the project shortly after Pakatan Harapan took over the government last May, citing its exorbitant cost and “unfair” terms that his predecessor, Najib Razak, had signed off on.

The Prime Minister’s Office said this cost reduction would benefit Malaysia and lighten the country’s financial burdens.

As part of the renegotiated deal, Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd signed a supplementary agreement with China Communications Construction Company Ltd to resume the project.

The agreement covers the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning aspects of the ECRL.  

Bai Tian said that prior to the renegotiation, ECRL had experienced some hiccups in the past eight to nine months.

“I’m happy to see both sides, after a goodwill negotiation, achieve a win-win solution.” 

Work on the project is expected to kickstart from as early as next month. – April 18, 2019.