Govt yet to finalise ECRL project’s direction — Lim

KUALA LUMPUR: The government has yet to finalise the direction for the East Coast Railway Line (ECRL) project in respect of whether to continue with it or otherwise, and is dependent on discussions currently underway.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the Selangor state government had opposed the project as the rail network from Gombak to Port Klang would impact the application for the 16 kmlong Klang Gates Quartz Ridge, which is the longest of its kind in the world, as a Unesco World Heritage site.

“If the government intends to continue with the project, comprehensive research has to be undertaken from the aspect of getting the agreement of the Selangor state government, the scope,specifications and implementation method, so that the overall cost can be reduced and also lighten the federal government’s financial burden.

“If the government decides not to go ahead with the project, there is a strong possibility of its being subject to a legal process to determine the amount in compensation to be paid,” he told the Dewan Rakyat here yesterday.

He said this in answering a question from Datuk Seri Dr Ismail Abd Muttalib ( BN-Maran) who wanted to know the latest status of the ECRL’s construction and justification for the cost rising from RM55 billion to RM70 billion.

Lim said at the moment, seeing that the project needed to be reviewed, the government directed Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd ( MRL), a company wholly- owned by the Minister of Finance Inc, to issue an immediate works suspension notice on July 3 to the main contractor, namely China Communications Construction Company (CCCC).

Following this, all work and services related to the ECRL project have been suspended until further notice is issued by the Finance Ministry.

According to Lim, the previous Barisan Nasional ( BN) government had announced the project cost as RM55 billion which only involved the basic construction cost for phase one from the Integrated Transport Terminal ( ITT) Gombak, Selangor, to Wakaf Bharu, Kelantan at RM46 billion and Phase 2 from ITT Gombak to Port Klang at RM9 billion.

“The cost announced by the BN government did not encompass the improvements phase amounting to RM11.78 billion approved by the Cabinet in 2017 which involved the additional alignment from Wakaf Baru to Pengkalan Kubor, Kelantan and construction of double tracking throughout the ECRL alignment.

“As such, the basic construction cost of the railway track for phases 1, 2 and additional improvements phase came to RM66.78 billion,” he said. — Bernama