Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has reiterated that the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) project had been postponed, not scrapped.

He said that the project cost will also have to be reduced.

"We thought we couldn't go ahead with that, but we studied the implications... studied the contract and the cost of it, we decided we have to do it at a later date or we may have to reduce the price.

"Reduction of the price is very difficult. As far as we can make out, it has to be deferred," he told reporters when met in the Parliament lobby today.

Mahathir had in his first month in office initially said that the HSR would be scrapped, before cabinet decided to put it on hold instead.

The Pakatan Harapan government claimed that the HSR would cost RM110 billion, compared to the RM74 billion estimated by the previous BN administration.

Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali is expected to discuss the rail project with Singapore by the end of this month.