Lim: No decision on whether to scrap ECRL

KUALA LUMPUR: The government has not decided on whether to scrap or continue the East Coast Rail Line (ECRL) project as negotiations with stakeholders are ongoing.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said if the government continued with the project, an in-depth study needed to be done to secure a mutual agreement with the Selangor government.

Last month, it was reported that the Selangor government had strong objections to a section of the project, covering the Gombak-Port Klang portion.

The objection was over the state government’s bid for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation World Heritage Site certification for the 16km Klang Gates Quartz Ridge, considered the longest quartz dyke in the world.

Lim said any decision to continue the project must also consider the scope, specification and method of implementation to lessen the project’s cost and, thus, decrease the government’s financial burden.

“If the government decides not to continue with the project, there is a big chance that it will be referred to a legal process to determine the cost of compensation, if needed, to be paid,” he said.

Lim was speaking during a question-and-answer session at the Dewan Rakyat here yesterday.

He was answering a question from Datuk Seri Dr Ismail Abd Muttalib (BN-Maran), who wanted to know the status of the construction of the project.

Part of Ismail’s main question included a query on the justification of the increase in ECRL’s construction cost from the initial RM55 billion announced during the previous Barisan Nasional administration.

Last month, Lim had said the project cost RM81 billion.

“The stated cost (RM81 billion) is not a new cost because the estimation of the overall cost originated from the past government, which was not revealed to the public.”

In response to Ismail’s supplementary question on what steps the government had taken to address the issue of the laid-off workforce from companies involved in the project, Lim said compensation could only be done by the companies themselves.

“These workers were not hired by the Federal Government, but by China Communications Construction Co.

“Compensation needs to be done by the company.

“However, the government is ready to assist (where it can).”

The railway link project, which would connect Port Klang in Selangor to Pengkalan Kubor in Kelantan, was approved by the previous government.