The Selangor government has yet to reach a decision on the federal government's East Coast Rail Line Project (ECRL), which will see 80km of the line go through the state, Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali said.

"So far, there has only been one discussion with the ECRL steering committee on Jan 25, 2017.

"But it has yet to fulfil the provisions under Section 20A (of the Town and Country Planning Act 1976) and no decision has been made by the state government on this development project," Azmin told the state assembly in Shah Alam today.

Section 20A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1976 states that it is "the duty of every federal and state government department or agency to consult the committee on any development activity that it proposes to carry out within the state".

Azmin said once the discussion under that section has been fulfilled, the suggestion from Damansara Utama assemblyperson Yeo Bee Yin on the ECRL project will be put forth to the federal government.

"For Damansara Utama's information, your suggestions about feasibility studies, the framework financing agreement signed on Nov 1, 2016, and the estimated ridership and ticket prices as well as an open tender to ensure transparency in this mega project will be informed to the federal government once the discussions under Section 20A have been completed," Azmin said.

Yesterday, Yeo (photo) urged the state government to flex its muscles to prevent the ECRL from becoming an expensive white elephant.

She said similar to the Kidex case, the state government should not cooperate on land acquisition and local authorities' approval on ECRL until everything about the project is above board.

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

"When considering Kidex, Azmin gave the Kidex developer three requests, failing which the state government would reject the project," Yeo pointed out.

With that in mind, she said for the ECRL project, the federal government must disclose:

1. All the relevant studies on ECRL, including the feasibility studies done by (engineering group) HSS (Integrated);

2. The framework financing agreement and engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning contract signed in Beijing on Nov 1, 2016; and

3. The estimated ridership and the future price for passengers' train tickets and cargo transportation to make the project at this price tag economically viable.

She had also urged the state government to pressure the federal government to conduct an open tender for the ECRL project.

Azmin also said that while the state government supports any effort to develop a more efficient public transport system, any big-scale infrastructure project that could affect the environment and residents would have to go through negotiations with a state planning committee.

"This will allow the state authorities to examine the components of the development project so that it falls in line with the state development policies from a technical, economical and social aspect," he said.

The ECRL contractor was nominated by China in exchange for Malaysia being granted attractive financing terms, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had previously revealed.

The ECRL is expected to have approximately 600km of electrified double-tracking lines, of which 80km will be in Selangor.