Malaysia to go ahead with East-Coast rail project after cost cut by $5bn
12 April 2019 | By GCR Staff 0 Comments
Malaysia will proceed with its Chinese-sponsored East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), at much reduced cost, after suspending work in July last year and apparently cancelling it in February, the government said today.
The office of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said the first two phases will cost about $10.6bn, rather than an original estimate of $15.9bn.
Mahathir halted work after his election in May 2018, with his government claiming costs had ballooned to $20bn. Nine months of negotiations and contradictory statements followed.
Todayrsquo;s statement said a deal had been signed with the original contractor, China Communications Construction Company, that would “pave the way for the resumption of the East Coast Rail Link project”, which it said would “surely benefit Malaysia and lighten the burden on the countryrsquo;s financial position”.
The deal was signed in Beijing by Daim Zainuddin, a businessman and former finance minister of Malaysia who was acting as special envoy to the leader. Mahathir is expected to hold a press conference on Monday.
The 688km rail link, which will connect Port Klang on the Straits of Malacca to Pengkalan Kubor, was one of the flagship projects for Chinarsquo;s Belt and Road Initiative.
Image: The linkrsquo;s west coast terminus will be Port Klang (Hafiz343/ CC BY-SA 4.0)
Further reading:
- Malaysian politicians told to keep quiet about $20bn East Coast Rail Link as talks continue
- Malaysia suspends $20bn Chinese-built rail link, and pipelines
- “No foreigners”: Malaysian PM throws $100bn Chinese development into confusion
Malaysian politicians told to keep quiet about $20bn East Coast Rail Link as talks continue
1 February 2019 | By GCR Staff 0 Comments
China has offered to cut the cost of Malaysiarsquo;s East Coast Rail Link by half, according to reports in the local press yesterday, however the countryrsquo;s government seems uncertain how to respond, with ministers making contradictory statements over the course of the past few days.
Lim Guan Eng, Malaysiarsquo;s finance minister, told reporters that talks were continuing, and had entered a “government-to-government” phase, suggesting that Beijing had taken over from the projectrsquo;s contractor, China Communications Construction Company (CCCC).
He added that a “gag order” had been imposed on cabinet members, ordering them to stop making statements about the ECRL.
This followed remarks by Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali at the weekend that suggested a final decision to terminate the project had been taken by the cabinet, and comments on Tuesday by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed, who said no final decision had been made and negotiations were still under way.
Meanwhile, Singaporersquo;s Straits Times
成本削减50亿美元后，马来西亚继续推进东海岸铁路项目
2019年4月12日|来自GCR记者0评论
在成本大大降低的情况下，马来西亚政府今天表示将继续建造在去年7月暂停、据说在今年2月份取消的中国赞助的东海岸铁路线工程（ECRL）。
马哈蒂尔总理办公室表示，前两个阶段将耗费106亿美元，而不是原先估计的159亿美元。
马哈蒂尔在2018年5月当选后停止了工程，他的政府声称成本已激增至200亿美元。随后是九个月的谈判和相互矛盾的声明。
今天的声明表示已经与原承包商中国交通建设公司签署了一项协议，该协议将“为恢复东海岸铁路连接项目铺平道路”，该项目“肯定会有利于马来西亚并减轻财政负担”。
这笔交易是由当时担任马来西亚领导人的特使的马来西亚商人兼前财政部长戴姆扎因丁（DaimZainuddin）在北京签署的，马哈蒂尔预计将于周一举行新闻发布会。
这条688公里长的铁路连接将连接马六甲海峡的巴生港和彭卡兰库博尔，是中国“一带一路”倡议的旗舰项目之一。
图片：该链接的西海岸终点站将是巴生港口（Hafiz343 / CC BY-SA 4.0）
拓展阅读：
随着谈判的继续，马来西亚政界人士被告知要对200亿美元的东海岸铁路线保持沉默
2019年2月1日||来自GCR记者0评论
据当地媒体昨日报道，中国已提出将马来西亚东海岸铁路线的成本降低一半，但该国政府似乎不确定如何应对，部长们在过去几天发表了相互矛盾的声明。
马来西亚财政部长林冠英（Lim Guan Eng）对记者表示，会谈仍在继续，并已进入“政府对政府”阶段，这表明北京已从该项目的承包商中国交通建设公司（CCCC）手中接管该项目。
他补充说，内阁成员被执行了一项“限制令”，政府命令他们停止发表关于ECRL的声明。
此前，经济事务部长阿里（azmin ali）上周末表示，内阁已经做出了终止该项目的最终决定，总理马哈蒂尔bull;穆罕默德（mahatiri mohamed）周二也发表了评论说尚未做出最终决定，谈判仍在进行中。
与此同时，新加坡的海峡时报援引了一位匿名且与CCCC有紧密联系的马来西亚官员的谈话，他说：“中国已大幅削减成本，高达一半左右”。
据《海峡时报》消息来源，这一提议是在马哈蒂尔政府本月决定取消合同之前提出的。
中国驻吉隆坡大使馆本周在其Facebook上发布了一首歌以纪念两国45年的外交关系。这首歌的名字是“Bahu Kiri”，马来语为“左肩”，并用普通话演唱，歌词讲述了一种不折不扣的友谊，并提醒两国他们共享一个海岸线。歌词包括：“我的右肩保护你免受风和雨的侵袭，我的左肩是为了让你坚持下去。”
纳吉布·拉扎克（Najib Razak）政府于2016年11月商定了688km线路的施工，并于2017年开始了现场施工。去年7月，在马哈蒂尔·穆罕默德（Mahathir Mohamed）当选后，该国暂停了这一计划，理由是，该国最初估计的130亿美元成本增长了70亿美元，而该国无法承受债务负担。
图片：马哈蒂尔·穆罕默德主持内阁会议（来自总理的官方Twitter提要）
拓展阅读：
前马来西亚总理纳吉布拉扎克因腐败调查被捕
2018年7月3日|来自GCR记者0评论
马来西亚前总理纳吉布·拉扎克（Najib Razak）今天在家中被捕
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