Tag: HSR project

  • Pembangkang Malaysia Minta Pemeteraian HSR Ditangguh

    Pembangkang Malaysia Minta Pemeteraian HSR Ditangguh

    Perikatan pembangkang Malaysia, Pakatan Harapan, mahu pemeteraian perjanjian-perjanjian berhubung Kereta Api Laju (HSR) dengan pemerintah Singapura ditangguhkan.

    Ini sehingga satu kajian mendalam, kukuh dan telus dijalankan untuk membuktikan kemampanan projek tersebut.

    Para Anggota Parlimen (AP) dari Pakatan Harapan hari ini (6 Dis) menyatakan bahawa mereka mahu Malaysia bersikap terbuka tentang pendapatan yang mungkin diraih Malaysia hasil projek berkenaan dan bagaimana kos pembinaan akan ditanggung kedua-dua negara.

    “Projek itu melibatkan jumlah-jumlah besar kewangan negara, dan banyak tanah rakyat dijangka akan diambil kerajaan untuk membangunkan HSR.

    “Justeru, kerajaan tidak seharusnya merahsiakan maklumat tentang projek ini, seolah-olah ia negara Dunia Ketiga,” menurut kenyataan itu.

    Kenyataan tersebut ditandatangani oleh Sim Tze Tzin dari Parti Keadilan Rakyat, Hatta Ramli dari Parti Amanah Negara dan Ong Kian Ming dari DAP.

    Satu perjanjian tentang HSR dijangka dimeterai oleh Malaysia dan Singapura menjelang akhir tahun ini.

    Singapura dan Malaysia sudah menandatangani Memorandum Persefahaman (MoU) tentang projek HSR itu pada Julai.

    Laluan kereta api sepanjang 350km itu dijangka menyingkatkan masa perjalanan antara Singapura dan Kuala Lumpur kepada sekitar 90 minit.

    Projek itu bukan sahaja akan meningkatkan keterhubungan dan memperkukuhkan hubungan ekonomi, malah kedua-dua pemerintah Singapura dan kerajaan Malaysia menyifatkannya sebagai bukti kerjasama dua hala yang rapat.

    Source: Berita MediaCorp

  • Malaysian Opposition Will Scrap High Speed Rail Project If Elected

    Malaysian Opposition Will Scrap High Speed Rail Project If Elected

    Malaysia’s opposition alliance said yesterday it will scrap a planned High Speed Rail (HSR) line between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur if it won federal power, and replace it with a railway connecting two key cities in East Malaysia – Tawau in Sabah and Kuching in Sarawak.

    The proposal to ditch the HSR project and pump the estimated RM35 billion (S$11 billion) saved into East Malaysia was presented by Pakatan Harapan (PH) on the sidelines of a Parliament session, ahead of Prime Minister Najib Razak’s tabling of the 2016 Budget tomorrow.

    The opposition claimed the HSR line would largely benefit only those working in and around Kuala Lumpur and in Singapore, and that the project is unnecessary at this point because Kuala Lumpur and Singapore are already served by excellent air and road links.

    Selangor MP Ong Kian Ming, a member of PH’s Budget drafting committee, argued that the HSR would likely cost more than a rail network linking Sabah and Sarawak, and would significantly add to Malaysia’s debt levels if both were to be built together.

    “HSR is not as important given that there are many cheaper and affordable options to travel between Malaysia and Singapore. The multiplier effects would be lower compared to a new railway network in East Malaysia and hence, the preference for the second cheaper and more necessary rail project,” he told The Straits Times.

    Sabah and Sarawak have long been stronghold states of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. With Sarawak state polls to be called by next year, the move by the opposition is seen as a concerted play for East Malaysian votes. National elections are due in 2018.

    Democratic Action Party chairman Tan Kok Wai said the new railway and other financial benefits to be allocated to Sabah and Sarawak in the opposition’s “alternative Budget”, are meant to develop the two states “long neglected” by BN.

    The HSR plan has gained traction, with about 150 firms responding to Malaysia’s Land Public Transport Commission and Singapore’s Land Transport Authority’s Request For Information exercise this month.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com