SINGAPORE: Seven Malaysian and international groups (consisting of 31 companies) have submitted a concept proposal to develop the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (KL-SG HSR) project, renewing Malaysia’s efforts to revive on-off. A new development has been added. -Take initiative.
These proposals were submitted to MyHSR Corporation Sdn Bhd (MyHSR Corp) in response to a Request for Information (RFI) exercise inviting private sector stakeholders to implement the project, according to a statement on Monday (Jan 15). It has been submitted.
MyHSR Corp is a company owned by the Minister of Finance (Corporation) and is under the supervision of the Malaysian Ministry of Transport and is responsible for project development and implementation.
The project will be a public-private partnership initiative based on the design-finance-build-operate-transfer (DFBOT) model.
“The results of the RFI evaluation will be submitted to the Ministry of Transport and the Cabinet for consideration,” MyHSR Corp chairman Fawzi Abdul Rahman said in a statement.
“If the response is positive, we will proceed to the second request for proposal (RFP) stage and receive detailed proposals from the selected consortium.”
Two Malaysian conglomerates expected to submit concept proposals include YTL Group and Berjaya Group, according to a report in Sunday’s New Straits Times (NST).
Other participants in the project are likely to include Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd, Econpile Holdings Bhd and Gamuda Bhd, industry sources said.
The RFI exercise for the proposed railway was launched in response to encouraging feedback from a preliminary round of opinion gathering held in March last year.
Participating companies must demonstrate not only technical expertise but also an overall ability to “secure the necessary resources and develop and operate railways and services within budget, quality and on time.”
They will also be asked to present a viable business and commercial model and an appropriate framework for consortium and project governance.
The 350km-long HSR project, capable of running at top speeds of 350km/h, was first proposed in 2013, leading to a binding agreement signed in December 2016 with the aim of bringing the line into operation by 2026. .
However, it was postponed multiple times at Malaysia’s request and was initially canceled after the agreement finally expired in December 2020.
Malaysia paid more than S$102 million (US$76.46 million) in compensation to Singapore for the canceled project.
Discussions about reviving the project intensified after Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim took power following a general election in 2022 and visited Singapore early last year to meet with Singapore’s leaders.
On August 3 last year, then Deputy Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat told Parliament that Singapore would “start from a clean slate” in good faith if any new proposals from Malaysia for the KL-SG high-speed rail project were received. He said he was ready to discuss it.