Saturday, October 14, 2017

东海岸铁路计划(ECRL)造价大增至700亿令吉?

百乐镇州议员杨美盈于2017年10月13日(星期五)在八打灵再也所发布的媒体文告。

布城务必要回答东海岸铁路计划(ECRL)要马来西亚人民买单的成本是否已经去到700亿令吉。

我们关切The Edge有关ECRL的造价可能会大增至700亿令吉的报导[1]

当建造ECRL的计划首次对外宣布的时候,东海岸经济区域发展理事会(ECERDC)的总执行长拿督杰巴新甘姆(Datuk Jebasingam Issac John)在2014年4月被报章引述说,ECRL工程的造价将会是大约300亿令吉。为ECRL工程完成可行性研究的HSS综合私人有限公司在2015年12月在其公司简介及能力报告中披露,它已经研究了ECRL原本计划当中的545公里长的路线,而这项工程的造价将会是290亿令吉。

政府在去年随着路线的长度增加而宣布这项工程的造价是550亿令吉,这比HSS的可行性报告所预估的价格还要高出80%。然后,我们现在面对着它的造价会大增至700亿令吉的可能性!我们想要布城厘清,ECRL要马来西亚人民买单的确切成本究竟有多少?

ECRL to cost more than RM70 billion?

Media Statement by Yeo Bee Yin, State Assemblywoman for Damansara Utama on Friday 13 October 2017 in Petaling Jaya.

Putrajaya must answer if East Coast Rail Line (ECRL) will cost Malaysians up to RM 70 billion.

We read with concern the report on The Edge Malaysia regarding the potential ballooning of ECRL cost to up to RM 70 billion [1].

When the plan to build ECRL was first announced, the East Coast Economic Region Development Council (ECERDC) CEO, Datuk Jebasingam Issac John was quoted in the newspaper in April 2014 that the ECRL project would cost around RM30 billion. In December 2015, HSS Integrated Sdn Bhd, which completed the feasibility study of the ECRL project, disclosed in its Corporate Profile and Capability statement that it studied the originally proposed ECRL route of 545km long and the project would cost RM 29 billion.

Last year, with some additional length to the route, the government announced the cost at RM 55 billion, which was already approximately 80% increase based on the feasibility study by HSS. Now we are looking at the potential further balloning of cost up to RM 70 billion!

We would like to seek clarification from Putrajaya as to how much exactly will ECRL cost the Malaysian people?

While we welcome rail infrastructure project in the east coast, we are perplexed at the high price tag. ECRL is set to be the most expensive mega infrastructure project our country has ever built. Nevertheless, the most expensive mega project in Malaysia was awarded to a China’s firm - China Communication Construction Co Ltd (CCCC) at an exorbitant price without an open tender. We have in our previous statements compared ECRL cost to other rail projects around the world and showed how the price tag of RM55 billion was unreasonable. One of The Edge articles rightfully described the ECRL as the world’s costliest railway of its class.

The cost of the ECRL project will affect the price of the passengers’ train tickets as well as the cargo’s freight fees - the higher the project cost, the more expensive the train tickets and freight fees will be. When the prices of passenger train tickets and cargo transportation are not competitive as a result of bloated project cost, the ECRL will likely become under-utilised and become an expensive white elephant. Otherwise the government needs to subsidise it to keep the price competitive through tax payers’ monies. Either way the rakyat will eventually need to pay for it.

Therefore, we strongly believe that the Malaysian people deserve to know more details on the cost structure of the project. In the light of the risk of further ballooning of construction cost, we urge Putrajaya to disclose the detailed breakdown of cost of the project.

Perhaps the MCA president and transport minister Liow Tiong Lai, who has been singing praise about the project, can hold a dialogue with concerned Malaysians to explain in detail as to how come ECRL cost so much?

[1] http://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/newsbreak-ecrl-cost-balloon-due-doubletrack-feature