A NEW economic blueprint planned for Malaysia has raised hopes of revival of the stalled high-speed rail link project, Singapore’s Straits Times reports.

The plan to build a network of development hubs from Bandar Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur to Johor could commence next year if the prime minister approves it, said the report quoting unnamed Malaysian officials.

Bandar Malaysia was to have been where the HSR stopped in Malaysia.

The new project, dubbed New Economic Corridor, is still under wraps for now, the sources said.

“The technical assessment is nearly complete, but the commercial one is the actual test, as the economic viability of the project must be justified,” a top Putrajaya official told ST.

The plan is to connect existing centres of economic activity such as the Aeropolis in Sepang, Vision Valley industrial park in Negri Sembilan, Iskandar Malaysia in Johor as well as towns in the central zone and on the west coast of the peninsula.

Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali had said on the Tg Piai by-election campaign trail that there were  plans to create new development “nuclei” beyond the Klang Valley that would spur economic growth. 

Meanwhile, government sources informed ST that Malaysia was looking into how to cut costs in the HSR project, which was put on hold due to its high cost of RM110 billion. They said land acquisition and station design were the areas where costs could be reduced.

“Many of the stops were allocated more than S$100 million (RM305.6 million) and we believe we can more than halve the amount,” a source was quoted as saying.

The HSR, which was put on hold last year due to is prohibitive RM110 billion cost, will be coming up for discussion between Malaysia and Singapore in May.

Singapore’s Transport Ministry said Singapore had yet to receive a formal proposal from Malaysia on the HSR project. – November 20, 2019.