Final Breakdown of the Singapore-Malaysia High-Speed Rail Connection Project

Singapore "Malaya to Cover Costs"
Malaya "Project Will Continue"

[Asia Economy Singapore Seo Jumi, Guest Reporter] After eight years of negotiations, the high-speed rail (HSR) project between Singapore and Malaysia has finally collapsed, and the railway project between the two countries is expected to be scrapped. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin recently announced in a joint statement that the two countries ultimately failed to reach an agreement on the repeatedly revised amendments.

Previously, in 2013, the two countries agreed to build a high-speed rail line spanning 350 km from Bandar Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Jurong East in Singapore. Both locations are major cities with populations of 8 million and 6 million respectively. If the railway had been constructed as planned, seven stations would have been established along the route, and the travel time between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, which currently takes over four hours by car (approximately 350 km), was expected to be reduced to 90 minutes. Additionally, the project was anticipated to generate an economic effect of 6.7 billion SGD (approximately 5.222 trillion KRW) on the GDP of both countries and create 111,000 jobs by 2060.

Subsequently, Singapore and Malaysia appeared to be progressing smoothly with the project after signing a legally binding bilateral agreement in December 2016, selecting companies for foundational design, and conducting international joint bidding with Malaysia. However, in May 2018, the Malaysian government requested modifications, causing the project to be suspended for two years, with a final extension until December 31, 2020. Ultimately, with no room left for negotiation earlier this year, the cooperation between the two countries was concluded as null and void.

In response, Singapore’s Ministry of Transport claims that Malaysia must compensate Singapore for the costs already incurred due to Malaysia’s cancellation of the agreement. In fact, the Singapore government is reported to have spent over 270 million SGD (approximately 222 billion KRW) by the end of May 2018 on design, manpower, and land acquisition.

Meanwhile, Malaysia has stated that the project will continue without Singapore’s involvement. Therefore, it is highly likely that the terminus of the high-speed rail starting from Kuala Lumpur will end in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, instead of Jurong East, Singapore.

However, some raise doubts about whether Malaysia can independently carry out such a large-scale project, considering that economic factors such as Malaysia’s excessive national debt were major reasons for the first project delay in 2018. There are also growing concerns that the complete cancellation of the high-speed rail project may affect the concurrent rail transit system (RTS: Johor Bahru-Singapore section) that both countries have been advancing simultaneously.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.