Singapore to feel loss of HSR project

PETALING JAYA: The scrapping of the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur High-Speed Rail (HSR) project will affect the development of the Jurong Lake District, the Straits Times reported today.
The scrapping of the project could set back several years the development of a second central business district in the garden city, it reported observers as saying.
The absence of the rail connection will make the district less attractive to businesses as well as Malaysians who could have used the HSR to commute into Singapore to work, said International Property Advisor chief executive Ku Swee Yong said.
"The development of the area was dependent on the fruition of the HSR," he was quoted as saying.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority's masterplan is to turn the Jurong Lake District into Singapore's second central business district. It hoped to see the HSR terminus and the Tuas mega-port help create 100,000 new jobs in the maritime, infrastructure, and technology sectors.
Jurong is close to manufacturing industries and businesses and two of Singapore's main universities Nanyang Technological University and National University Singapore.
The Singapore government has also invested a fair bit in planning and early projections for the project, said Azman Jaafar, deputy managing partner of RHTLaw Taylor Wessing and chairman of Asean Plus Group.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad confirmed on Monday that Malaysia would drop the project and would potentially have to pay RM500 million in compensation.
"It is a final decision but it will take time because we have an agreement with Singapore. It is not beneficial to Malaysia because it is going to cost us a huge sum of money and we will make no money at all from it because it is a short track," he said.