DR Mahathir Mohamad today asked former minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan to prove Malaysia could lose as much as RM209 billion by axing the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail project.

“Show us the proof. Don’t just say it. Because when we said we have RM 1 trillion debt, we have papers, we have documents to prove it,” said the prime minister, referring to the statement he made on the national debt last week. 

Rahman, who was minister in charge of the economy in the Najib government, said today scrapping the HSR was a big mistake by a short-sighted government.

He said the project has the potential to stimulate economic development along rail corridors and urban development around its stations, better known as “transit-oriented development”.

“The result of the (KL-Singapore) HSR would be no less than the economic multipliers of the Taiwan HSR, between Taipei and Kaoshiung, and the Tokaido Shinkansen, between Tokyo and Osaka,” he said.

Dr Mahathir said yesterday Putrajaya would scrap the HSR because the project did not benefit the country.

He said that HSR project will cost the government a huge sum of money.

“We’ll make no money at all from this arrangement,” he added.

“(The HSR) is only a short track. It is only going to save people one hour by taking the HSR.”

“It is a final decision,” said Dr Mahathir, adding that the process will take time since an agreement was signed between the previous administration and Singapore.

The decision Pakatan Harapan coalition had said during its election campaign it would relook a number of mega-projects signed during the Barisan Nasional government. – May 28, 2018.