Malaysia Revives Singapore Border Rail Project at Lower Cost

(Bloomberg) -- Malaysia is proposing to resume a rail project connecting its southern state of Johor to Singapore at a lower cost.

The government is seeking to downsize the price tag by 36% to 3.16 billion ringgit ($756 million) with changes to the structure and scope of the project, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told reporters in Johor Bahru on Thursday.

Construction of the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System Link has been delayed repeatedly, with Malaysia requesting a six-month suspension earlier this year citing concerns over costs.

Mahathir has been seeking to reduce his nation’s debt and review projects signed off by his predecessor Najib Razak, including a bullet train that was supposed to connect Singapore with Kuala Lumpur. A few of those projects have since been restarted, including the China-backed East Coast Rail Link that was revived after nearly halving the price tag.

Malaysia expects to sign an agreement on the Singapore-Johor rail by early next year, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said Thursday. Much of the savings will be due to land and other engineering and design cost cuts, with Malaysia proposing a light-rail transit system similar to lines operating in Kuala Lumpur to lower the price, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kyunghee Park in Singapore at kpark3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Yudith Ho at yho35@bloomberg.net, ;Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net, Chan Tien Hin

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