NEW: Sultan Ibrahim To Bring Back the RM100 Billion High-Speed Rail

Sultan Ibrahim expressed his intention to revive the High-Speed Rail (HSR) project, proposing alignment through Forest City for the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore route. Despite Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s openness to HSR revival, he emphasized the government’s reluctance to fund the estimated RM100 billion project.

Sultan Ibrahim

He insisted on reviving the HSR and proposed a private finance initiative for funding, with the government paying the contractor for a 30-year lease. He criticized the cost escalation due to the project’s uncertainties. The HSR project, initially estimated at RM72 billion, was scrapped in 2020, with a revised cost of RM110 billion in 2018.