Forest City may get an HSR station

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 13): Hong Kong-listed property developer Country Garden Holdings Co Ltd is courting the government to build a high-speed rail (HSR) station in its Forest City development in Johor, New Straits Times (NST) reported today.

This means there could be a change in the alignment of the mega Kuala Lumpur-Singapore HSR project.

“Discussions are ongoing between the authorities and stakeholders. They are talking about the additional cost of adding a station in Forest City.

“The discussions will involve the Land Public Transport Commission as it will need a feasibility study. Whether it will be a revised proposal for the HSR project, will depend on the outcome of discussions,” a source told NST.

The potential station in Forest City could act as the new transport hub for Johor Bahru, just like KL Sentral in Brickfields, the source told the NST.

"The same alignment can still be used, but the path may be diverted to Forest City before heading to the (second) causeway. The distance could be longer and will cost more for Malaysia. Singapore, however, will not be affected by this move," NST reported the source as saying.

The 350km HSR will cut the travelling time between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to 90 minutes. The trains are expected to run at a top speed of more than 300kph.

The latest estimate by the Singapore-based Institute of Southeast Asia Studies noted that the cost of the HSR is expected to range between S$20 billion (RM60 billion) and S$25 billion.

The HSR was expected to have eight stations, with seven stops in Malaysia — Bandar Malaysia, Putrajaya, Seremban, Melaka, Muar, Batu Pahat and Iskandar Puteri — and one in Jurong East, Singapore.

Country Garden’s Forest City development covers 14 sq km of land on four artificial islands in Johor and has a gross development value of RM444 billion.

Aside from Forest City, Country Garden has three other developments in Malaysia, namely Central Park and Danga Bay, which like Forest City are also in Johor, and Diamond City in Semenyih, Selangor.