PETALING JAYA: Why take a contradictory tone on the publicly reported cost of the proposed KL-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR), asks Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong.
The Ayer Hitam MP raised the point to Transport Minister Anthony Loke after the latter jibed at him over the estimated RM120bil needed to develop the proposed project.
"Two days ago (Thursday (Sept 5)), I shared my views on the HSR project and provided several suggestions to the Madani Government to reconsider the implementation of the HSR project.
"Yesterday (Sept 6), Loke questioned me how the figure of RM120bil could be cited as the latest cost for the HSR project.
"Am I being blamed by the Transport Minister again?," Dr Wee said in a Facebook post Saturday (Sept 7).
Dr Wee said that the sum he cited was not based on his "imagination" and questioned why Loke had reacted so strongly to his suggestion.
He noted that despite the inflated RM120bil cost for the HSR being previously cited by the mainstream media as well as being raised in Parliament, Loke remained silent.
The MCA president said the cost cited by him was based on news reports by Singapore's Straits Times (ST) and New Straits Times (NST) in February this year.
Dr Wee said he based the sum cited on information sourced from a Feb 19, 2024 report by ST saying the cost of HSR would increase to at least RM100 billion.
Another media report, he said, was by NST on Feb 22, 2024, quoting transport analyst Dr Rosli Azad Khan who informed Business Times that the cost of the HSR project was expected to rise to RM120 billion.
"If these ST and NST reports are false news, and it has been over six months, why haven’t these reports been corrected?" he asked.
Dr Wee also said that the reported RM120bil amount was also raised by PKR's Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Karim on March 20 this year in the Dewan Rakyat but Loke remained silent.
"He just kept quiet but when I quoted the figure which had been reported in mainstream media, I was rudely questioned.
"Why? Isn’t this double standard? " he added.
Dr Wee also pointed out that there was also a previous report by NST in July 2018 quoting Loke's DAP predecessor Lim Guan Eng as saying that the cost of HSR was RM110bil.
Lim had said that the then Pakatan Harapan government would continue the project if the cost could be reduced by half.
On Thursday, Dr Wee called for the government to consider taking back the reins of the HSR project to be built alongside its existing RM140bil gross development value Bandar Malaysia project, which is planned to be the HSR’s terminus station.
The MCA president said it would be more beneficial to allow a single consortium to develop both the HSR and Bandar Malaysia projects as a package project instead of it being done in silos.
He cited the RM120bil based on previous mainstream media reports.
The 350km HSR project aims to slash travel time between Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore from around four hours by road, to just 90 minutes by rail.
Originally scheduled to open in 2026 but cancelled in January 2021, the project was revived last year with the Malaysian government evaluating fresh concept proposals.
Earlier in July, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the government would make a final decision by the end of this year on whether to proceed with the HSR project after weighing proposals from a narrowing list of private consortiums.
