PETALING JAYA: Seven local and international consortia submitted their concept proposals to build the Malaysia-Singapore high-speed rail (HSR), days after Japanese companies reportedly opted out of the project for being “too risky”.
MyHSR Corp Sdn Bhd, the government’s project delivery vehicle for the HSR, said in a statement that the seven consortia comprises 31 firms, although it did not name the companies.
However, in the same statement, MyHSR hinted that it may not proceed to the next stage if there is no green light from the Cabinet.
The project, which former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad estimated to cost RM110bil, has been approved in principle by the administration of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Anwar, however, remarked that his government will only kick start the project if the cost is lowered substantially.
Malaysia previously paid a penalty of S$102.8mil to the Singapore government as compensation, after the administration of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin terminated the HSR project.
As announced yesterday, the submission of concept proposals for the HSR connecting Kuala Lumpur and Singapore was in response to the request for information (RFI) exercise that MyHSR Corp launched in July 2023.
The RFI was to invite local and international players from the private sector to deliver the project based on a public-private partnership initiative on the design-finance-build-operate-transfer model.
The deadline for the RFI was extended last November until Jan 15, 2024 from the original deadline of Nov 15, 2023.
MyHSR chairman Datuk Seri Fauzi Abdul Rahman said the findings from the RFI evaluation will be presented to the Transport Ministry and the Cabinet for deliberation.
“If the response is positive, we will move on to the second phase with the Request for Proposal (RFP) stage to obtain detailed proposals from the selected consortia,” he added.
Under the earlier plan, the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore HSR as conceived by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was supposed to span 350km.
It is expected to reduce travel time between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to 90 minutes and was aimed at being a catalyst for the 486-acre Bandar Malaysia township project by 1Malaysia Development Bhd.
Companies from several countries with high-speed train expertise including China and Japan have been eyeing to be partake in the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore HSR project.
However, on Jan 12, Kyodo News reported that Japanese firms have decided to drop their plans to get involved in the HSR project.
Quoting government and company sources, it said that the firms have decided the project will be too risky without the Malaysian government’s financial support.
The companies, including East Japan Railway Co, had hoped to utilise Japan’s Shinkansen bullet train system in the project.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke, however, said that the HSR project will not be halted despite the Japanese companies opting out of the tender process.
In a note issued yesterday, AmInvestment Bank Research analyst Alex Goh said the government is set to narrow down candidates within several months and could start full-fledged negotiations with the Singaporean government later this year.
Nevertheless, he did not discount further hurdles and reviews to this decades-long proposed project, which could have additional route realignments before the government has reached final investment decision against the backdrop of escalating construction costs.
“For a project of this scale, we expect the federal and state governments to be involved in the lengthy and complex land acquisition process.
“The surrounding land may be monetised to partly defray the costs of building the railway, stations and facilities,” stated Goh.
The earlier concept designs for all HSR stations involved Bandar Malaysia, Sepang-Putrajaya, Seremban, Ayer Keroh, Muar, Batu Pahat and Iskandar Puteri in Malaysia as well as Jurong East in Singapore.
In addition, Johor will be home to two major maintenance facilities.
A main depot will be located at the north of Iskandar Puteri Station for all HSR train maintenance and a heavy maintenance base to be located near Muar station for maintenance of the track, power supply and signalling systems.
Additionally, Goh said the HSR project will be a potential catalyst for positive investor sentiment.
“We acknowledge that the new Agong, together with re-energised excitement in infrastructural and property developments in Johor could catalyse positive investor sentiment for the construction sector.”
He said this is especially for interested parties such as YTL Corp Bhd
, Gamuda Bhd, IJM Corp Bhd, Sunway Construction Group Bhd, Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd, MMC Corp Bhd, WCT Holdings Bhd and Berjaya Corp Bhd.
