Malaysia’s new prime minister has said he will cancel a 110 billion ringgit (A$36.5 billion) high speed rail project to Singapore, in an effort to cut spending.
The 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad, who became prime minister on May 10, told press on Monday he was in talks with Singapore to cancel the joint project, saying it would drive Malaysia to bankruptcy.
The 350-kilometre high speed line would move people between Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital, to Singapore, in just 90 minutes. The journey currently takes about five hours.
“It’s going to cost a huge sum of money,” the PM told reporters, per Bloomberg. “We’ll make no money at all from this operation. It’s only a short track, it is going to saver you only one hour by taking the HSR.”
In an earlier interview with Financial Times, Mahathir said the project needed to be cancelled to “avoid being declared bankrupt”. “We need to do away with some of the unnecessary projects,” he was quoted as saying.
Mahathir said cancelling the project would take some time, as the plan has been developed in conjunction with Singapore.
“We have an agreement with Singapore. We have to talk with Singapore about dropping that project.”
Singapore is yet to make a formal statement in response to the plans.