Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Bullet train

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia and Singapore have approved construction of a bullet train rail linking the two countries, to be built by Malaysian conglomerate YTL Corporation, according to a report Monday.
The New Straits Times, citing an unnamed official from YTL, said the high-speed train would cost some 8.1 billion ringgit (US$2.34b) and that design plans and studies were underway.
Bullish Bullshit. The Transport Ministry has denied a widely-quoted report by the NST that said the governments of Malaysia and Singapore had approved the proposed bullet train project involving both countries.
Chan Kong Choy said [here] Malaysia has not made a final decision.
If someone was feeding NST with embargoed reports, he might not have expected this response from Shahrir Samad, who has not only questioned the priorities given by the government to certain projects, especially the Bullet Train, but also demanded to know why Singapore is in.
Turut dipersoalkan Shahrir ialah mengenai kewajaran penglibatan Singapura dalam projek kereta api laju itu yang sepatutnya dipertimbangkan kerajaan.
"Kalau projek itu mahu diteruskan, maka perlu dibina jambatan, sebab takkanlah kereta api ini terlalu pantas hingga tak perlu jambatan untuk seberang Selat Johor.
"Singapura pernah menolak cadangan pembinaan jambatan baru ke sana tetapi kini (apabila merasa projek kereta api laju itu menguntungkan mereka), maka mereka mahu projek kereta api laju ini berhenti di republik itu," katanya yang berpendapat kerajaan perlu berjaga-jaga dalam memikirkan program pembangunan jangan sehingga menjadi bahan jenaka.
Read the BM version of the Bernama report here.

18 comments:

  1. Sdr Rocky,

    The NST could be right. YTL could have been given the ok by the POWER and the Transport Minister, being way down the feeding chain, may not have been aware.

    You know how things are these days!

    This could literally be the "gravy train" that a certain favoured son of the land wrote in the NST some time ago.

    If I am not mistaken, double-tracking is being revised.

    The Ipoh-Padang Besar section has been promised to MMC.

    MMC had received a letter of award to do double-tracking from Padang Besar to JB some time in 2003.

    But the project was postponed by the new administration in Putrajaya because it was considered a mega project.

    The LOA was never withdrawn as it could trigger a legal challenge.

    An Indian (as in the Republic of India) consortium is said to be the leading contender for the Seramban-JB stretch.

    But a powerful Malaysian political operator is said to be lobbying on behalf of a Chinese (as in the People's Republic of China) group.

    The YTL "bullet train" could be a different project altogether i.e its own track between KL and Singapore.

    Do not under estimate YTL's lobby power! This is a very savvy conglomerate.

    Also bear in mind that the NST, with its powerful connections in Putrajaya, may be ahead of Transport Minister or somebody could be using the paper to force an issue.

    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous7:41 am

    Rocky, ini main wayang saja lah. semua sudah meeting sudah setuju sudah ahem..ahem..dah.

    Ingat dulu ytl beri tahu bloomberg tapi deny juga.

    Masa ini regim ytl banyak cun la.. lesen wimax pun dapat walaupun syarikat 10 sen sahaja. tapi sekarang sudah 80 sen - kan cun tu

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous8:55 am

    kretapi nak pantas,
    idea jambatan dicantas,
    keputusan dibuat, ditulis atas kertas,
    pak shahrir kena bergerak sama pantas,
    takut2 ramai yang melepas.

    dulu2 lagi cerita kretapi dah dibahas,
    tapi kini mendapat restu dari atas,
    maka barulah idea boleh menetas.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous8:59 am

    A small point - Spore says that they are still waiting for an official proposal on the bullet train from Malaysia.

    And knowing that the Spore govt is squeaky clean and that they don't play games with projects like this, it looks as though the NST is blowing smoke.

    Why is anybody's guess.

    Maybe somebody is floating a few trial balloons to see which way the wind is blowing........

    And remember the Spore govt's oft-repeated mantra - "a balance of benefits". Which means -what's in it for Spore? What goodies can Msia offer to get Spore to agree to this project?

    Now you see where Shahrir is coming from!

    ReplyDelete
  5. MCA Ministers are in the cabinet as window dressing or call them 'nasi tambah'if you like.
    They have no clout. Even the SIL can tell the MCA Minister what to do and what not to do.
    So Kadir may be right. After all the NST has the authority to TRUTH.
    If the news had appeared in a blog, then it would have been a lie. The MCA Minsters response would have been antagonistic and aggressive.
    With the NST, he merely denies but does not reprimand.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous10:40 am

    NST get information not from socalled YTL sources. But the Man ask NST to highlight the issue because they know very well about the result.

    If the socalled inside information is true...let wait and see..
    Anyway you(YTL or any conglomerate) can build shinkansen,bullet train or whatever train but never try to rob or steal Keretapi Tanah Melayu land and railway.

    Get your own money to buy land for new bullet train rail and the train must go to WPI at the Malaysia side Link kedua.Never go through Tambak Johor because this Tambak will be demolish by future and visionary leader.

    KTM coach and their railway is for me and others(rakyat biasa/berpendapatan rendah) to use it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sekarang ni kena baca laporan berita dengan hati yang celik. Kena ambil kira siapa yang menulis, siapa yang memberi kenyataan atau dari sumber mana ...kerana kalau diperhatikan semacam ada satu agenda yang tersembunyi, yang seakan-akan wujud di dalam berita-berita muktahir.

    apa pun semuanya berkemungkinan besar adalah untuk mewujudkan rasa yakin rakyat kepada kerajaan pimpinaan BN. Walaubagaimanapun ada juga tulisan dan kenyataan yang akan memakan tuan nya sendiri...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Rocky!

    Lets face this truly sad fact head on! Umno under the present leadership is very weak. Pak Lah is surrounded by advisers who have vested interest or someone else or some country's vested interest! I think the Malays should just accept the fact that we are never a world player, we are destined to be controlled and to only enjoy the periphery of our own country's success by others. And other than that we are only capable to dream, thats all!
    Big majority of Umno leaders are just useless fat cats, making money and they love to smoke cigars, to make them feel more important, or to imagine their dicks that they have are as big as the cigars they smoke!
    But the fact of the matter is our economic policy is no more being home-grown dictated, but rather we receive instructions, in the form of "moral suasions" from across the causeway to tell us what is really good for us!
    We are caught in a classic political bind in which we (the leadership) do not have the political will to tell Singapore to "fuck off"and "to mind your own business" unless we want to be branded as unfriendly "muslim country".
    Malaysia has been told by the
    American to be "nice" to Singapore, and we have no choice but to willingly comply or "your son" will be put on trial for helping terrorists! The last line I have to speak in cypher and now you morons have to decipher yourselves about whose son I am talking about!
    Don't ever forget, American Foreign Policy is just as bad as the international game of cricket for if you do not comply to our demands we will strangle you! Malaysia has been strangled so many time over under the present leadership and I have no more tears to shed!

    Salaam!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous12:08 pm

    Dear Rocky and fellow blog-visitors,

    Perhaps this is just an exercise to regain credibility for Nasty Pee [creative name courtesy of AmirHafizi, the unapologetic Malay Male].

    You know, like... hey look, Nasty Pee doing an exposé on the government... the government then denies vehemently... Nasty Pee makes a big show of standing its ground... and the people go... Wow, how could we accuse Nasty Pee of being a government organ... look at how anti-gov that exposé is!

    Won't be surprised if exercise repeated soon over some other devious schemes that are already forgone conclusion.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I agree with DKJ,The information goes from the top to NST first before the Cabinet Meeting.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous1:12 pm

    Rocky,

    I knew this the moment they scrapped the "double-tracking" and the "crooked bridge" on the pretext of Mahathir's mega projects!

    Hantu Gigi Jarang

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous1:17 pm

    terkancit, and tekincut.

    maybe our football captain got tripped, but the referee waives play on.

    again, where we are now? 5th minute?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous1:56 pm

    I support the idea of having a fast train from KL ( presumely it will be from kl sentral) to Singapore as I feel it will help promote the Iskandar Regional Development and YTL has done good job with the ERL( fast train from KL Sentral to KL Airport) .Some question though; will the train stop in Iskandar Regional Development? how many stop will it make? If it have many stop then it will not be that fast?

    ReplyDelete
  14. the train project is still on track but there will be many complications. my humble tots --

    http://sophiesworld-sophiesworld.blogspot.com/2007/03/bullet-train-part-2.html

    cheers

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous10:39 pm

    I think we're all flabbergasted, frustrated & fed-up. What sort of gormen do we have now. Cabinet doesn't seem to operate as it should, semua lain bikin lain cakap, Ministers do not make decisions on their ministerial matters eventually malaysia incorporated will be sold log stock and barrel. Hurray. Melayu nak balik dah tak ada kampung!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous10:52 pm

    Rocky,
    The next time you read a sources-based story in the NST Business Times, check the share price of the affected counter the following days. The Securities Commission should also check on this. I have been personally tracking these types of stories. My conclusion, someone is paying and someone gets paid. Do some checking...maybe we can hang these buggers out to dry.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous1:44 pm

    Rocky,

    It's quite obvious that YTL plan to expand its current ERL system to go all the way down to Malacca and thus to Singapore.

    The ERL line, being a wider gauge system compared to KTM's line, uses trains with maximum speeds of 160km. Now I hv been personally told by people familiar with the project, that this would be the actual speed rather than a faster train ie ICE in Germany or TGV in France.

    And with the ERL trains being supplied by Siemens, there is a possibility that YTL may hv the option of using the faster ICE (Intercity Express) trains which would be more feasible for a KL - Singapore line. But our current ERL? Nah!

    It would be too costly to develop and operate, and the tracks would need to be straighter too. But I hope they come to their senses and give us a real fast train service instead of a half baked version.

    ReplyDelete
  18. How many times does YTL have to put up this 'hot air balloon' in the sky and get 'shot down' everytime?

    It's a switch and swap proposal with the KTM landbank being the ultimate prize.

    Re-launch the SBN-JB double tracking project with connectivity to Senai and PTP, and thereafter, concentrate on the Trans-China connection which will serve the entire hinterland comprising of Thailand, Cambodia, Laos plus to some extent, Vietnam. This land-bridge link will bring greater benefits to us as a trading nation.

    Do we need RDC's permission or is AAB completely blind to what's good for us?

    ReplyDelete