A DAP state assemblyperson has urged the Selangor state government to flex its muscles to prevent the East Coast Rail Line Project (ECRL) from becoming an expensive white elephant.

Yeo Bee Yin said the PKR-led state government should put its foot down with regard to land acquisition and local authorities.

“The Selangor state government should use similar principles it used for Kidex to ECRL.

“When considering Kidex, Menteri Besar Azmin Ali gave the Kidex developer three requests, failing which the state government would reject the project.

“These request included (i) to prepare and disclose traffic impact assessment, social impact assessment and environmental impact assessment, (ii) to disclose the tol rate for the entire concession agreement and (iii) to disclose concession agreement,” she added in a statement.

Similarly, the Damansara Utara assemblyperson said the state government should not cooperate on land acquisition and local authorities approval on ECRL until everything about the project is above board.

According to Yeo, the federal government must disclose:

  • All the relevant studies on ECRL, including the feasibility studies done by (engineering group) HSS (Integrated).
     
  • The framework financing agreement and engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning contract signed in Beijing on 1 Nov 2016.
     
  • The estimated ridership and the future price for passengers' train tickets and cargo transportation to make the project at this price tag economically viable.

Yeo also called on the Selangor government to do all it call can to pressure the federal government to conduct an open tender for the ECRL project.

“Malaysians and Selangorians cannot afford another expensive white elephant,” she warned.

High price tag of the project

The DAP assemblyperson also noted how her colleagues in Pakatan Harapan have repeatedly raised concern over the high price tag of the project, which was awarded to China Communication Construction Co Ltd (CCCC) without open tender at a price of RM55 billion with financing via soft loans from the Export-Import (Exim) Bank of China.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak disclosed in Parliament that the contractor for the project was nominated by China in exchange for Malaysia being granted attractive financing terms.

ECRL would have approximately 600km of electrified double-tracking lines, of which, 80km is in Selangor.

Yeo also pointed out that HSS Integrated Sdn Bhd, which completed the feasibility study of ECRL project in December 2015, disclosed in its corporate profile and capability statement that the proposed 545km ECRL route that it studied would cost RM29 billion or approximately RM53.2 million per kilometer.

“Why the sudden increase to RM55 billion for an additional 10 percent of the rail length? When asked to disclose ECRL feasibility study prepared by HSS, which also includes the economic study, Harapan MPs were met with cold shoulders from the federal government,” she said.

Yeo claimed that allowing the project to continue would jeopardise the next generation as they would be the ones to foot the high price tag of ECRL.

“When the prices of passenger train ticket and cargo transportation are not competitive as a result of bloated project cost, ECRL will likely become underutilised and become an expensive white elephant,” she added.