KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak has maintained that there is no hidden costs in the postponed Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) project as it has been put up for an international open tender, with the successful bidder to be jointly-vetted by both Malaysia and Singapore.
In criticising Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali’s claims that there were “hidden costs” in the HSR project which amounted to an overall cost of RM110 billion, Najib Razak, who is former prime minister, questioned whether the allegation had also indicated that Singapore was complicit in the matter.
Najib was responding to Azmin’s response to a query on HSR by Ayer Hitam member of parliament Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong in the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday.
“The HSR project has been put up for an international open tender set up by both Malaysia and Singapore. The tender is slated to close on December 28, 2018, and the successful bidder will be jointly vetted by the governments of Malaysia and Singapore.
“The tender stipulates that bidders come up with offers of monetary and financing packages. This follows the competitiveness of the project and bidders are usually supported by their respective governments.
“When queried, Azmin only came up with a reply that the RM110 billion was their (the government’s) estimation, which includes the unelaborated hidden costs.
“This is despite that the tender has yet to close, its cost has yet to be finalised and the financing package remains undetermined.
“So, are you as saying that the Singaporean government is concealing these ‘hidden costs’ as well?” Najib said in a statement on his Facebook page.
Najib said the financing packages offered were also competitive, and that the zero-rated or 0.1 per cent interest rate was far from unusual.
“Not too long ago, a Japanese company won (the bid for) an HSR project in India with the financing package set at 0.1 per cent interest rate for a period of 50 years with 15 years moratorium (or postponement of payment).
“The KL-Singapore HSR is a high-profile project which attracted aggressive bids from around the world.
“Hence it is disappointing to note the response by PH government over their claims that the HSR’s cost is at RM110 billion, which is many times the amount forecasted by Malaysia and Singapore at between RM55 billion and RM70 billion.”
Najib said Azmin had also resorted to making jokes, instead of revealing the value of HSR project’s economic impact, benefits and number of lost job opportunities should it was to be scrapped.
“This is not a good start for the parliament (session) because a complete answer is needed for such a huge project, as it affects millions of people, hundreds of thousands of jobs, international relations and Malaysia’s future economic flow.
“The questionable answers provided by the PH government concerning the HSR project cost which allegedly amounted to RM110 billion, shows the tendency to exaggerate the costs of projects initiated by Barisan Nasional such as HSR, East Coast Railway and LRT3, in which they will claim that BN has hidden the projects’ actual costs.
“Later on, they will claim to be successful in halving the projects’ costs and beating their chests about it, although the new cost is higher than the one set by BN.”