May 27, 2018, 04:39 AM 
Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said that his country will look at ways to reduce the cost of any potential exit from the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR).
Previously, Mahathir said Malaysia will review the project even after signing a legally-binding agreement with Singapore.
Dropping major projects can reduce national debt significantly
In an interview with financial newspaper The Edge published on Saturday, May 26, Mahathir said Malaysia has a national debt of around RM1 trillion (S$337 billion).
Should these huge projects be dropped, they can then reduce the debt by RM200 billion (S$67 billion) "at one go".
He said:
"The terms of the agreement (for the HSR) are such that if we decide to drop the project, it will cost us a lot of money.
So we are going to find out how we can reduce the amount of money we have to pay for breaking the agreement."
He also said former prime minister Najib Razak was "crazy" to have agreed to go ahead with the projects without thinking through how exactly should the country pay for them.
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One of Mahathir's campaign promises was to review major projects and drop them should they be found not to serve the interests of Malaysia and the Malaysian people.
KL-S'pore High-Speed Rail
Singapore and Malaysia signed a legally-binding bilateral agreement for the project on Dec. 13, 2016.
The HSR was scheduled to start construction in 2019, with operations beginning in December 2026.
Its cost was estimated by Francis Hutchinson of ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute to be between S$20 billion to S$25 billion.
If completed, it will run from Singapore's Jurong East Terminus to Kuala Lumpur's Bandar Malaysia Terminus, with eight stops in between.
It will also operate between 6am and midnight daily.
The entire trip is estimated to shorten travel time between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to just 90 minutes.
Image via Land Transport Authority
An Advance Engineering Study for the design of the Singapore portion of the HSR infrastructure has been awarded. A Joint Developing Partner has also been appointed to help manage the project.
However, the deadline for the primary tender of the HSR has been pushed back from June 2018 to December 2018 at the request of bidders, including Japan and China.
Top image via The Edge
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