KUALA LUMPUR — The Japanese government will be providing financial backing to the East Asian country’s 10-company consortium for its bid for the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail (HSR) project worth up to US$9 billion (S$11.9 billion), according to a report by the Nikkei Asian Review.

Japan’s public-private fund Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corp for Transport and Urban Development (JOIN) is expected to support the consortium — where companies like East Japan Railway and Sumitomo Corp have banded together — that is seeking to win tenders for the project, said the report.

It said Japan plans to submit its proposal for the project by June and has estimated that the project cost will range between hundreds of billions of yen to about ¥1 trillion (S$11.9 billion).

It said the JOIN fund — which was set up in 2014 — may bear up to tens of billions of yen of the total project cost.

Malaysia and Singapore had on Dec 20 called a joint tender process for the designing, building, financing, maintaining of the rolling stock and rail assets for the 350km-long Kuala Lumpur-Singapore HSR project.

The tender came a year after both governments signed the bilateral agreement for the project, which will boost socio-economic links between Singapore and its northern neighbour.

The deadline for the tender is June 29.

Besides Japan, others expected to join in the tender process are groups from China, South Korea and Europe.

China Railway Corporation would lead a consortium of Chinese companies bidding for the massive project, one diplomatic source in Kuala Lumpur told Reuters.

South Korea's consortium would include Hyundai Rotem Co and Hyundai Engineering and Construction , another source familiar with the bidding said.

Meanwhile, Japan’s ambassador to Malaysia, Mr Makio Miyagawa, said local companies will be able to participate in numerous projects linked to the HSR in the event Japan won the bidding for the tender process.

“The setting up of a railway such as the HSR will open a window for massive local participation, especially in the construction of large-scale infrastructure buildings. We welcome cooperation with local companies in Malaysia and Singapore,” national news agency Bernama quoted him as saying.

“The railway alignment will need technological know-how accumulated in Japanese infrastructure companies. Collaboration between local industries and their Japanese partners would be in our policy, and an essential component for such a high-tech project.”

Drawing attention to Japan’s 50 years experience in developing and building the Shinkansen — the world’s first high-speed rai system — and the subsequent growth it spurred in businesses around its stations and nearby towns, Mr Miyagawa said same success can be replicated in Malaysia and Singapore.

Once completed, the HSR will shorten land-travel times between Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and Jurong East in Singapore to 90 minutes, from about four hours by car.

Targeted to start operating by Dec 31, 2026, the HSR will have eight stations. The seven in Malaysia are Bandar Malaysia, Bangi-Putrajaya, Seremban, Melaka, Muar, Batu Pahat and Iskandar Puteri.

It would be served by four trains per hour – two offering an express service between Bandar Malaysia and Jurong East that runs every 30 minutes, and two that stop at all seven stations within Malaysia. AGENCIES