取消興建星馬高鐵 - 東協

原文出處：https://goo.gl/FMyqvT

Malaysia kills plans for high-speed rail link with Singapore
by Daniel Shane @CNNMoney
May 29, 2018: 7:54 AM ET

Malaysia's new leader is ditching a planned high-speed rail link with
Singapore that would have cost billions.
The move raises questions about the country's commitment to other big
infrastructure projects, including those being pushed by China.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad announced late Monday that the proposed rail
link with Singapore would cost Malaysia a "huge sum of money." Analysts have
put the project's total price tag around $17 billion.

"It's not beneficial," Mahathir told reporters in Kuala Lumpur, questioning
whether the rail line would ever be profitable for Malaysia or bring many
benefits for commuters.

Mahathir, the 92-year-old surprise winner of Malaysia's election earlier this
month, is seeking to make good on a campaign pledge to cut back on big
projects that risk increasing the country's high debt levels.

He said the decision on the rail link is "final" but would take time to enact
because of the agreement with Singapore. The government of Singapore said it
hasn't received any notice from Malaysia about plans to scrap the project.

Related: Mahathir: Malaysia's comeback prime minister

Other big projects in Malaysia could be at risk, including a Chinese-backed
plan to build a $14 billion rail link across part of the country.

Mahathir told the Financial Times in an interview Monday that he wanted to
talk to the Chinese government about renegotiating the project.

His predecessor, Najib Razak, was a big proponent of China's Belt and Road
initiative, a massive plan to pump hundreds of billions of dollars into
ports, rail lines and other projects across Asia, Africa and parts of Europe.

Najib said earlier this year that Malaysia must "take advantage" of Belt and
Road, "which has the potential to create the world's largest platform for
economic cooperation." The country has signed up for an estimated $34 billion
dollars worth of road, rail and port projects under the Chinese initiative,
according to research firm Gavekal.

But some experts fear Belt and Road projects may pile debt onto smaller
countries and end up putting China in a strong position to influence their
strategic decisions or even gain control of important infrastructure.

Some of the Chinese-backed projects in Malaysia "are of dubious economic
value" and axing them "may be no bad thing," said Alex Holmes, an Asia
economist at research firm Capital Economics.

Related: China's global trade plan is piling huge debt on smaller nations

In a note to clients on Monday, Holmes pointed to a Chinese-backed port in
Sri Lanka that resulted in heavy losses and was eventually signed over to its
Chinese creditors last year.

Some experts think it's unlikely Mahathir will actually pull out of many of
the big Chinese projects, though.

"Most likely there will be some cosmetic changes to existing contracts, which
in their essentials will proceed as before," Gavekal analyst Udith Sikand
wrote in a note shortly after his election victory.

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