The governments of Singapore and Malaysia have jointly requested the presence of representatives from 14 companies and consortia to further deliberate their feedback about the High Speed Rail (HSR) project that will connect the city-state with Kuala Lumpur, reported Channel NewsAsia.
Previously, the authorities had initiated a joint Request for Information, which was participated by 98 entities. But more firms could still be invited, revealed Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA).
Based on Malaysian reports, China Railway is among the companies invited for further discussions. South Korea and Japan are also interested to take part in this mega project.
According to the LTA, the next step is to thoroughly scrutinise the feedback and use it to enhance the commercial and procurement approach for the HSR project. The agency also remains open to suggestions and pledged to carry out a formal tender process in an “open, fair and transparent manner”.
However, the Request for Information exercise and the subsequent discussions involved have no impact on the formal tender process, which will be announced at a later stage.
Spanning 350 kilometres, the HSR project is expected to significantly reduce travel time between both cities to only 90 minutes. The Singapore terminus will be at Jurong East while Malaysia’s station will be in Bandar Malaysia.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
