Talks over stalled China-backed rail link still ongoing, says Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohamad
- Work on the project ground to a halt nine months after breaking ground, following the elder statesman’s landslide election victory in May
Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has confirmed that negotiations on the country’s China-backed East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project are still ongoing, although there is no time frame for when talks will wind up.
“We are [in talks]. It’s not an easy thing to negotiate … I can’t tell how long [it will take],” he told the media after delivering a keynote address at the World Chinese Economic Summit, a two-day conference aimed at enhancing connectivity and business link-ups between China, Southeast Asia and Europe.
On Thursday, chairman of government advisory body the Council of Eminent Persons, Daim Zainuddin, described the 80 billion ringgit (US$19.2 billion) ECRL project as a “sensitive” issue that will take time to come to fruition.
The former finance minister has been tasked with its management, and has told the media that the nation does not want to upset its “long-established friendship with China”.
The ECRL is just one of the projects that was approved by Malaysia’s former ruling coalition, the Barisan Nasional.
When Mahathir led his Pakatan Harapan coalition to a shock electoral victory in May, he suspended a host of mega infrastructure projects signed with China, saying that the country’s finances were in no shape to support such large-scale endeavours.