![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/daim.jpg\")
The Prime Minister\u2019s special envoy Tun Daim Zainuddin said the cost of the rail link has been reduced by a significant RM21.5 billion to RM44 billion from its original cost of RM65.5 billion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new ECRL project will now also have its alignment shortened by 40 kilometres (km) from 688km to 648km.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daim, who was in Beijing\u00a0to meet with representatives from China on the\u00a0ECRL, said the double track plan will be still maintained as in the original agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSeveral stations are scrapped from the construction. They include Gombak, but the new alignment will have a new station in Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan,\u201d Daim told the Malaysian media at the Malaysian Embassy here Friday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a statement earlier today, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) announced that the\u00a0construction cost for Phases 1 and 2 of the ECRL has\u00a0been reduced to RM44 billion, a reduction of RM21.5 billion\u00a0from its original cost of RM65.5 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe government of Malaysia welcomes the signing of the SA, which covers the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) aspects of the rail project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe SA was achieved after months of negotiations between the companies involved, as well as the governments of Malaysia and China,\u201d it said in the statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The PMO said the reduction will benefit Malaysia and lighten the burden on the country\u2019s financial position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ECRL project was initiated by the previous Barisan Nasional government and was suspended last year by the newly-elected Pakatan Harapan government due to its high cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The proposed 688-kilometre ECRL, when completed, will link Port Klang in Selangor to Pengkalan Kubor in the east coast state of Kelantan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
–NNN-BERNAMA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PUTRAJAYA, April 12 (NNN-BERNAMA) — The East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), which the Malaysian government had put on hold, will now be resumed at a reduced cost following the signing of a supplementary agreement (SA) between Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd (MRL) and China Communications Construction Company Ltd (CCCC). The Prime Minister\u2019s special envoy Tun Daim Zainuddin said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":19982,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[288,300],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19973"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}