Axed ECRL is punishment for east coast folk, says Umno VP

PETALING JAYA: The axed East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project is a “punishment” for the rakyat on the east coast, who had chosen the opposition as their state governments, said Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Ismail, who is also Bera MP, said the cancellation quashed opportunities to close the vast development gap between the west coast and the east coast states of Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan, which are under Barisan Nasional and PAS.

“The opportunity to develop small towns, entrepreneurs and also create more jobs for the youth on the east coast is affected.

“The east coast will continue to lag behind. What’s for sure is that the people’s hopes to have a public transport facility for ease of mobility will remain a dream,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Ismail said he understood if the Pakatan Harapan government wanted to do a cost analysis but cancelling the ECRL was “too much”.

GiatMara, a technical and vocational school under Mara, along with Universiti Malaysia Pahang had introduced a training course to 700 students under the ECRL project but now the trainees’ hopes to work in the rail sector were crushed, he added.

“I hope Pakatan is not having its revenge towards the east coast folk for rejecting the coalition during the GE14. Pakatan needs to respect the voters’ decision,” he said.

Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had announced during his official visit to China that the ECRL, Multi-Product Pipeline and Trans-Sabah Gas Pipeline would be cancelled. In response, MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong called on the government to reveal the feasibility studies, cost-benefit analyses and economic impact studies done to account for the cancellation of three mega projects.

He also urged the government to show the contracts for all the three projects including the termination and compensation clauses.

He said it was only fair that Malaysians were given all facts so that the people can evaluate for themselves if Pakatan’s allegations are true and if cancelling the three projects was the right decision.

Meanwhile, defending the government’s decision, Deputy Defence Minister Liew Chin Tong said the ECRL and the Kuala LumpurSingapore High Speed Rail (HSR) projects proposed by the previous Barisan government cost too much and meant too little.

He said Malaysia and China should instead return to the idea of a Pan-Asia Railway linking Singapore to Kunming.

“For Singapore-Kunming to work, expanding the rail network in Malaysia is certainly a good idea.

“But it should be one that carries goods and not just passengers, as there will never be a HSR that is faster than flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing or Shanghai,” he said.