SENDAI (Japan), March 16 – Japan became the first country to conduct high level talks with Malaysia over possible involvement in the proposed high speed train project between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had requested for the special meeting, held yesterday, to discuss possible involvement of the country’s rail companies in the project. The meeting was on the side of the United Nation World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction here which was opened by Abe on the same day of the meeting.
“Prime Minister Abe had conveyed his country’s wish to be involved in the proposed high speed train project mooted by Malaysia and Singapore,” Muhyiddin said after meeting Japanese land, infrastructure, transport and tourism minister Akihiro Ota today. The deputy prime minister said the same subject on the rail project was discussed in more details with Ota. ‘They (the Japanese government) are really serious in trying to get their companies to be involved in the project.
“On our part, we are interested to get them onboard as they have the experience and technology,” said Muhyiddin, while pointing out that the Japanese Shinkansen bullet train network, being part of that country’s rail lines established 101 years ago has good safety and reliability records. He said the government is currently studying the proposed project in order to lay down its details for implementation.
He also said that bidding for the project will be processed through open tenders. “I had been informed by the Cabinet that the project will mostly be managed by the private sector. The government will be involved in matters such as land acquisition,” he added. Asked if any other country had shown interest to be involved in the project, Muhyiddin said the Chinese government had also shown interest. Muhyiddin said the Japanese government was also interested in getting involved in a proposed high efficiency coal generated power station.
He said Malaysia needed such a plant for future electricity supply demand in the country. “Japan has the technology, and if it’s competitive they should be able to submit their proposal to be involved in the project,” he said. Muhyiddin had also held a meeting on Sunday with his Turkish counterpart. deputy prime minister, Numan Kurtulmus where they discussed issues and possible cooperation in handling in containing the security threat posed by Islamic State terrorists and the growing sense of Islamicphobia around the world.
