According to the Straits Times, Singapore’s Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung said they could not accept this “fundamental departure” from the original bilateral agreement.
Speaking in Parliament today, he said that the removal of this assets company (AssetsCo) was Singapore’s main concern in discussions over Malaysia’s proposed changes to the project linking Jurong East and Kuala Lumpur.
The HSR project was terminated after Malaysia allowed the bilateral agreement to lapse on the deadline of Dec 31, 2020 with both sides failing to agree on a number of proposed changes to the project.
“Because neither country has the expertise and experience in operating the HSR,” he said, “we agreed under the HSR bilateral agreement to appoint a best-in-class industry player through an open and transparent international tender to assume the role of the AssetsCo.
“Once appointed, the AssetsCo was to supply the train system, operate the network, ensure that appropriate priority is given to cross-border HSR service vis-a-vis Malaysia’s domestic service, and be accountable to both Singapore and Malaysia.”
He said Singapore viewed the AssetCo as integral to the project, and it would minimise the possibility of future disagreements and disputes over the course of the project, which was expected to last decades.
“Singapore therefore informed Malaysia that the removal of the AssetsCo constituted a fundamental departure from the HSR bilateral agreement, and could not be accepted.”
However, he did not state what Malaysia’s proposed alternative would have been.
An open tender for the role of the AssetCo was held in 2018, just months before the deal was first suspended.
Ong also said Malaysia’s suggestion that the line link to KLIA, which would have meant sharing a track with the existing KLIA Express line, also presented “many technical issues”.
“Having said that, the main concern for us was the removal of the AssetsCo,” the Singaporean daily quoted him as saying.
The original deal was signed in 2016 after three years of negotiations, with construction suspended in 2018 at Malaysia’s request. This suspension was later extended until 31 Dec 2020, with the explicit understanding it would be the last extension.
Malaysia will now have to compensate Singapore as per the HSR agreements, and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mustapa Mohamed has said Malaysia would honour its obligations and initiate the necessary procedures to determine the amount of compensation.
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