Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on May 28 that he will drop the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (KL-SG HSR) project, as part of his efforts after winning the election to restore the financial health of the country.
Malaysian new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad says to cancel high speed rail project with Singapore. (Photo:Xinhua)
Mahathir made the remarks at a press conference, saying it is "a final decision" to cancel the project, but Malaysia still has to talk to Singapore over a penalty concerning the withdrawal.
Mahathir said the penalty is around US$126 million.In an interview with the Financial Times earlier, Mahathir said KL-SG HSR is one of the "unnecessary projects."
To control public spending, he also introduced a 10 percent pay cut to his cabinet ministers, abolished some organizations and vowed to terminate the contracts of some 17,000 public employees.
