High-speed rail link between Singapore and Malaysia could face delays

According to American financial tabloid, Bloomberg, Syed Hamid Albar, the Chairman of Malaysia's Land Public Transport Commission, hinted in an interview on Tuesday that the high-speed rail link between Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and the city-state of Singapore might miss its initial 2020 deadline - despite using as much government land as possible for the project to avoid property acquisition disputes.

The transport commission also added that the project is expected to take up to seven years to complete once construction begins by 2016. The project has garnered strong international interest with the Malaysian transport agency flooded with proposals from French, Japanese, Chinese and German companies.

The proposed rail line is believed to reduce the 300km journey between the two capital cities from about five hours to just 90 minutes.

Mr. Syed declined to reveal the estimated cost of the development, although Malayan Banking Economist, Suhaimi Ilias hinted the project could cost as much as RM40 billion (S$15.6 billion).

While leaders of the two countries announced last year that the rail link might be completed by the end of this decade, Mr. Syed Hamid revealed that there might be problems with the original timeline as there are more factors than just construction that the governments need to study.

In contrast, a spokesman for Singapore's Ministry of Transport revealed they are unaware of Malaysia's intentions to delay the project beyond 2020. "As far as we know, we are still working towards project completion by 2020 as agreed by the two Prime Ministers. We have not received any indication from Malaysia that it intends to delay the project beyond 2020. Our feasibility studies are on track to be completed next year and bilateral discussions with Malaysia are ongoing," the spokesman told Bloomberg.