It was recently announced that two of Malaysia’s mega projects have been scrapped in efforts to cut costs.
However, the cancellation of one of the projects, which is the KL-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR), stirred up some criticism from certain politicians, including our former prime minister.
Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak recently took to Facebook and urged the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government to be transparent in their decision to cancel the HSR project, citing the potential social and economic benefits for both Malaysia and Singapore.
HSR: Kerajaan digesa bersikap telus dalam keputusan untuk membatalkan projek tersebut.1. Projek keretapi laju HSR…
Posted by Najib Razak on Wednesday, May 30, 2018
He also denied the government’s statement that the project would have cost RM100 billion, and asked them where they got those figures from.
On top of that, he also claimed that this project would create 110,000 job opportunities, which would expand to 442,000 by 2069, and Malaysia could have earned up to RM650 billion, citing a report by the then-Barisan Nasional government.
The former prime minister urged the current government to show this report to the public in an effort to be more transparent.
According to Malaysiakini, in response Najib’s statement, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad told reporters,
“You want to spend between RM60 to RM100 billion for about 100,000 jobs. That is not efficient.”
Source: KiniTV | YouTube
Meanwhile, the prime minister stated that the government would have to pay RM500 million to Singapore as compensation for cancelling the project.
What are your thoughts on Najib’s statement regarding the HSR project? Let us know in the comments below!
Also read: Tun M: “MRT3 Project Will Officially Be Cancelled”
