A joint tender will be called on Monday for a firm to assist in the development of the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail project. Singapore's Land Transport Authority and Malaysia's MyHSR Corporation will call the tender and the firm they are looking to engage will act as a Joint Development Partner (JDP). This follows the signing of the memorandum of understanding between Malaysia and Singapore last month.

"The JDP is expected to provide project management support, technical advice and procurement advice relating to the high-speed railway systems and operations," said the agencies yesterday in a joint release. It will also be expected to develop technical and safety standards for the project, and assist the two countries' joint project team in preparing documents for upcoming tenders relating to the joint aspects of the project.

The tender is open to firms, which have previously advised on large public-private partnership infrastructure projects. Firms with experience in providing project management, technical, commercial or legal advisory services relating to high-speed rail systems or rail projects with 200km of track may also apply.

Conceived in 2013, the 350km rail project is expected to begin operations in 2026 and cut travel time between Singapore and KL to 90 minutes, compared with the current four to five-hour road journey.