‘Business as usual for ECRL’

KUALA LUMPUR (May 17): While the Council of Eminent Persons, set up under the new Pakatan Harapan (PH) government, met heads of infrastructure projects yesterday, it is “business as usual” for the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project, a project spokesman told reporters.

“We have briefed the council on the project’s status. I understand that they (the council) are fully aware of the status and I believe they will make a statement soon,” Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd (MRL) head of corporate communications Rosmah Mahmud told the press on the sidelines of the meeting.

Rosmah also said there is no stop-work order issued for the project. “It was 13% completed a few weeks ago. As of yesterday (Tuesday), the team provided updates that it is now 14% completed.”

MRL chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Seri Darwis Abdul Razak were among several heads of infrastructure projects that attended a meeting with the Council of Eminent Persons at Ilham Tower here.

The council members are former Bank Negara Malaysia governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akthar Aziz, former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin, former Petroliam Nasional Bhd president and CEO Tan Sri Hassan Marican, tycoon Robert Kuok Hock Nien and economist Professor Dr Jomo Kwame Sundaram.

The meeting is part of the PH government’s plan to review the necessity of mega infrastructure projects such as the ECRL and Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high speed rail.

MRL is the project owner of the 688km ECRL connecting Port Klang with Pengkalan Kubor in Kelantan. The ECRL project, to be built at a cost of RM55 billion, has been criticised for being overpriced and unnecessary.

China’s state-owned China Communications Construction Co Ltd is the main contractor for the project, funded through soft loans from Export-Import Bank of China.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on May 17, 2018.

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