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Exclusive | Top Mahathir adviser Daim says Malaysia’s China-backed ECRL will be loss-making for some time, reveals surprising offer from fugitive financier Jho Low
- Former finance minister thinks the rail link will take years to make a profit, and says Low contacted him in bid to help negotiate with China
- This is the second piece in our series on Daim. Later today, he discusses Malaysia’s dispute over Singapore’s agreement to purchase water from its neighbour
Reading Time:4 minutes
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Malaysia’s China-backed East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) is likely to be loss-making for a considerable period after its completion in 2026, according to the government adviser who led lengthy negotiations with Beijing over the project.
In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Daim Zainuddin said the development – viewed by China as a key pillar of its Belt and Road Initiative – was no different from other public infrastructure projects that had “long gestation periods”.
And despite hopes in the China-wary West that Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad would cancel the project and deal a blow to the Beijing-led infrastructure-building initiative, Malaysia decided to give the rail link the green light because of its legal obligations to uphold the original deal, Daim said.
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The former finance minister was tasked by Mahathir last July to renegotiate the terms of an agreement between his predecessor Najib Razak’s government and the rail link’s main contractor, China Communication Construction Company (CCCC).
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The 93-year-old premier had contended that the original price of 65.5 billion ringgit (US$15.8 billion) was too high, and suggested that Najib had offered the Chinese firm a sweetheart deal as a quid pro quo to Beijing for the help rendered by other Chinese state firms in bailing out the troubled 1MDB state fund.
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