 |
| EAST COAST RAIL LINE (ECRL) PROJECT Introduction Suruhanjaya Pengangkutan Awam Darat (SPAD) and the East Coast Economic Region Development Council (ECERDC) have jointly launched a market sensing exercise to gauge market interest and seek views via a Request for Information (RFI) for the East Coast Rail Line (ECRL) project on 15th March 2016. Project Background The East Coast Economic Region (ECER), is an area measuring more than 66,000 square kilometres or 51% of the total area of Peninsular Malaysia with a total population of 4.43 million (2014). ECER covers the states of Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang, as well as the district of Mersing in Johor as shown in Figure 1 … for more, go to http://www.spad.gov.my/land-public-transport/rail/east-coast-rail-line-ecrl-project |
What a load of garbage and bias opinion on BRI's ECRL!
https://youtu.be/BxlHuOMq3sk?t=4 (VIDEO: For those anti-China Malaysians, watch this video clip and see what Dr M has to say about China)
Consider these selected content:
Worse still are the megaprojects with foreign partners that can only be described as a rank betrayal of the nation’s interest.
In time, we might well come to discover that what all these projects had in common was massive corruption, that many of these initiatives were nothing more than a gigantic national feedlot scheme for corrupt politicians and their cronies to feed on public funds to their heart’s content.
One of the more pressing challenges that the country now faces is the megaprojects with China and Singapore.
The RM55 billion East Coast Railway Link (ECRL) is perhaps emblematic of the way Najib worked with China. Not only did we borrow money from China to pay China to build a railway link that was both unnecessary and unviable, the terms of the contract itself were “very damaging to our economy,” as Mahathir noted after being briefed on the matter. Even the way the loan agreement was negotiated was “not normal” according to him. The final price tag for this colossal white elephant might even exceed RM92 billion we are told.
While most Malaysians, including I Love Malaysia-China Silk Road agree that many mega projects were overpriced by the toppled Barisan Nasional (BN) federal government, not all projects are White Elephants.
To claim that all mega projects are White Elephants is not only irrational, it smacks of biasness and failure to assess with knowledge and positive thinking.
While it may likely be true that the two mega projects highlighted - the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur High Speed Rail (HSR) and East Coast Railway Link (ECRL) - had been former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s administration’s reckless spending and gross mismanagement of the nation’s finances, to label the ECRL as a White Elephant is grossly irresponsible for the future economic growth of Malaysia.
While the HSR may not be that urgent for implementation because it only serves Malaysian and Singaporean commuters, the same cannot be said about the ECRL.
The ECRL is part of China’s multi-trillion-dollar Belt Road Initiative (BRI) rail link - connecting some 69 cities and countries.
The ECRL, when completed, is set to be BRI’s Southeast Asia (SEA) rail link hub to China, Europe, Scandinavian and Nordic countries, and is thus too huge a trading potential for Malaysia to reject.
The ECRL will serve not only Malaysia but also Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei.
The construction of BRI’s rail link is already progressing speedily, and China is not about to slow it down, just because of politicking in Malaysia.
China is likely to shift BRI’s SEA rail hub to Thailand should Malaysia pose hurdles or obstacles. BRI just cannot be derailed by Malaysia.
I Love Malaysia-China Silk Road understands China would agree to sit down to renegotiate with Malaysia on the ECRL with the new (Tun) Dr Mahathir Mohamed-led Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government.
If the US can feel or deem the BRI as an economic threat to the world’s No.1 economy, can Malaysia really ignore the business and trade potential of BRI’s ECRL?
Many so-called mega projects in Malaysia had in the past been labelled as White Elephants. But not all were true.
Even the Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Putrajaya were once labelled by opposing politicians as White Elephants? Do they still think so now?
The ECRL requires decision-makers to think out of the box for the mammoth economic potential that can be generated for the future of Malaysia.
Is handing over the BRI SEA rail hub to Thailand wise?
"China and Singapore should do the right thing
May 29, 2018
Both China and Singapore can insist on their pound of flesh and use their economic muscle to bully us into maintaining the ECRL and HSR or they can do the right thing and work with our government to find mutually acceptable solutions.
COMMENT
 |
With a new government in power, the truth about the Najib administration’s reckless spending and gross mismanagement of the nation’s finances is finally coming out – one trillion, maybe more, in debt, huge losses in one government project after another, appalling mismanagement and lack of oversight. I fear we haven’t heard the half of it.
Worse still are the megaprojects with foreign partners that can only be described as a rank betrayal of the nation’s interest.
In time, we might well come to discover that what all these projects had in common was massive corruption, that many of these initiatives were nothing more than a gigantic national feedlot scheme for corrupt politicians and their cronies to feed on public funds to their heart’s content.
If all that money had been put to productive use, we might be a fully developed country by now.
Criminal negligence
One thing is clear: if Najib had not been removed from power, he would have driven the nation to the ground. As it is, it’s going to take us a long time to dig ourselves out of the hole that he put us in. And the citizens of Malaysia are going to have to pay for it.
Of course, Najib is not the only one to blame; every last one of his cabinet ministers contributed to this disaster as did senior officials like the Chief Secretary, the Secretary-General of the Finance Ministry, the Governor of Bank Negara and the Attorney-General, among others. If they had any honour, they would have resigned by now.
Dr Mahathir and his economic team now have their work cut out for them. If anyone can turn the situation around it is Mahathir. At least we can be thankful for that.
Megaprojects galore
One of the more pressing challenges that the country now faces is the megaprojects with China and Singapore.
The RM55 billion East Coast Railway Link (ECRL) is perhaps emblematic of the way Najib worked with China. Not only did we borrow money from China to pay China to build a railway link that was both unnecessary and unviable, the terms of the contract itself were “very damaging to our economy,” as Mahathir noted after being briefed on the matter. Even the way the loan agreement was negotiated was “not normal” according to him. The final price tag for this colossal white elephant might even exceed RM92 billion we are told.
In effect, China took for itself all the benefits and left us with all the liabilities. Was this the Belt and Road Initiative or a plan to bankrupt and railroad us?
A disaster of this magnitude, of course, does not occur because of incompetence or even stupidity; such adverse and one-sided terms indicate that other factors were at play.
Mahathir has now expressed the hope that the project could be renegotiated if not cancelled entirely. The PRC ambassador to Malaysia, on the other hand, keeps insisting that “there are no changes in the ECRL project” and that everything is “running smoothly.”
The RM 110 billion Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail (HSR) project represents another huge headache for Malaysia. Despite all the hype its just not cost-beneficial. However, as Mahathir noted, “The terms and agreement for the HSR are such that if we decide to drop the project, it would cost us a lot of money.”
Thus far, Singapore, like China, has not indicated a willingness to rethink the project. Thanks to Najib, Singapore too has us by the cojones. No wonder Singapore, like China, was rooting for Najib in the last election, preferring a weak and easily manipulatable candidate in Putrajaya to Mahathir.
Moral responsibility
In the end, we might have little choice but to abide by the terms of the contracts. However, an argument can also be made that both China and Singapore took advantage of a corrupt regime to sign projects that did not meet international standards of good governance and transparency. China, in particular, must have known that the ECRL project was suspect right from the beginning; yet, it went ahead with it. Indeed, China exploited our weaknesses to impose “unequal treaties” (as Mahathir called them) upon us.
I submit, therefore, that they have a moral responsibility to do the right thing now and cancel if not renegotiate these agreements with minimum penalty.
Hard lessons in independence
Whatever it is, we will now discover who our friends really are.
Both China and Singapore can insist on their pound of flesh and use their economic muscle to bully us into maintaining these “unequal treaties” or they can do the right thing and work with our government to find mutually acceptable solutions. They can have their pound of flesh or they can prove themselves the good neighbours they claim to be, but they can’t have both.
For Malaysia, it is a lesson, a very expensive lesson, that when we have weak and corrupt leaders, we are vulnerable to exploitation and manipulation. We must never allow ourselves to be put in this position ever again.
Dennis Ignatius is a former ambassador.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.”
 |
| China's Belt and Road Initiative - Education (Information current as at 27 November 2017) The Belt and Road (B&R) initiative (short for the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st century Maritime Silk Road) is a strategic foreign policy and economic strategy which was announced in September 2013 by Chinese President Xi Jinping. The initiative aims to strengthen connectivity and economic collaboration between China and countries in Asia, Europe and Africa, and has since become a major focus for China’s economic development … for more, go to https://internationaleducation.gov.au/International-network/china/PolicyUpdates-China/Pages/Chinas-Belt-and-Road-Initiative-.aspx |
Comments
Post a Comment