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Three sites being considered for S’pore-KL high-speed rail station

PUTRAJAYA — The Government is considering three options to site the Singapore station of the high-speed rail link to Kuala Lumpur, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday at a press conference after the fifth Malaysia-Singapore leaders’ retreat in Kuala Lumpur.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong with Malaysian Premier Najib Razak at the Prime Minister’s office in Putrajaya last year. Photo: AP

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong with Malaysian Premier Najib Razak at the Prime Minister’s office in Putrajaya last year. Photo: AP

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PUTRAJAYA — The Government is considering three options to site the Singapore station of the high-speed rail link to Kuala Lumpur, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday at a press conference after the fifth Malaysia-Singapore leaders’ retreat in Kuala Lumpur.

Two of the three options are in the west — Tuas West and Jurong East — while a third, in the city, will also be looked at, but is more challenging because of the cost and land required, said Mr Lee.

While locating the station in the heavily built-up Central Business District will be ideal, it will be very difficult to do so, Mr Lee said. “The expense would be very high — you have to tunnel a long way and to find a sufficiently big plot in the city, in order to build the railway station,” he added.

Malaysia has decided to locate its terminal at Sungai Besi, which has been earmarked by the Malaysian government for redevelopment into a mixed-use community and commercial district. The Republic will make its decision within the next year or so, Mr Lee said.

About 20 Cabinet ministers from both Singapore and Malaysia met at the two-day retreat to review progress in bilateral relations and discuss ways to further enhance bilateral cooperation across a wide range of areas, including the development of Iskandar Malaysia. An Industrial Cooperation Work Group has been set up, aimed at promoting and exploring more mutually beneficial activities in the economic region, particularly in advanced materials engineering, electronics, creative services and food industries.

Mr Lee and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who held a meeting before the delegations met yesterday, expressed satisfaction with the development of projects and initiatives in Iskandar Malaysia.

Among other things, they also acknowledged that transboundary haze pollution is a recurring problem for the region and reaffirmed both countries’ commitment to cooperate on the problem.

The railway link, which was announced at last year’s retreat and described by Mr Lee as a “game changer”, is targeted for completion by 2020.

Both Mr Lee and Mr Najib acknowledged at yesterday’s press conference that it was an ambitious and challenging timeline. Nevertheless, they are sticking to it for now.

Mr Najib said: “It is too early for us to revise the timeline at this stage. But we have in mind that it is ambitious ... it was designed to be ambitious to begin with.”

A joint statement by both countries reiterated that the high-speed rail will facilitate seamless travel between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, enhance business links and bring the people of Malaysia and Singapore closer together.

Separately, the Malaysia-Singapore Joint Ministerial Committee for Iskandar Malaysia had also endorsed in January the first phase of the joint engineering study for the Rapid Transit System (RTS) link between Singapore and Johor Baru. The statement said Mr Lee and Mr Najib looked forward to the adoption of the final scheme for the RTS link and for the committee to proceed with the second phase of the study.

To facilitate the cross-border movement of goods and people, Mr Lee said the priority is to further improve the processes at the land checkpoints.

While a Friendship Bridge — which will be a third road link between the two countries — and a co-located Customs, Immigration and Quarantine facility were mooted during the meetings, Mr Lee said the present focus is to improve the flow at land checkpoints. He noted that in the mornings, motorists have to queue for up to one or two hours.

“In the long term, I can imagine and foresee that, at some point, we need to widen the links across the Straits of Johor,” said Mr Lee, who added that both countries should study how an “iconic symbol” of close bilateral ties could be developed for motorists to enter Malaysia from Singapore.

Mr Najib said the current capacity of the Causeway will not be sufficient for future requirements. On the possible timeline for the Friendship Bridge, he said: “We’ll decide as and when that will happen. But let’s just say it’s a long-term project.”

As part of the retreat, Mr Lee and his wife Ho Ching were shown around Kuala Lumpur’s city centre on Sunday. During a 30-minute tour, Mr Lee walked around the Bukit Bintang area and the Bangsar Village to look at the new developments that have taken place over the last decade.

He also visited KL Sentral and the site of the planned Tun Razak Exchange, a proposed international financial and business hub under Malaysia’s Economic Transformation Programme.

Mr and Mrs Lee were hosted to a private cruise dinner on Putrajaya Lake by Mr Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor.

At the press conference yesterday, Mr Lee said his two-day visit was fruitful. He noted that Kuala Lumpur had “changed so much” since he last took a walk around the city many years ago.

“I’m very impressed by the developments and the vibrant street life in Bukit Bintang and also Bangsar Village ... the teh tarik was not bad at all either,” he said, drawing laughter from journalists.

The leaders’ retreat was started in May 2007 by former Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi and Mr Lee in Langkawi. The retreat next year will be held in Singapore.

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