MTR to bid for 350-kilometer Malaysia-Singapore project

Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation has said it is interested in bidding for a multibillion-dollar rail line project between Malaysia and Singapore, according to the South China Morning Post.

According to the media outlet, MTR Corp’s chairman Frederick Ma said that the company would seek to partner with China Railway Corporation, a state-owned giant on the mainland, to bid for the 350-kilometer project which extends from Singapore to the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.

Speaking at the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, which concluded yesterday, Ma said that MTR Corp wants to “expand into new markets under the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’.”

The potential partnership between the two organizations follows a memorandum of understanding for cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, signed late last year. The agreement establishes collaboration on railway projects in more than 60 countries covered in the scope of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Hong Kong’s MTR would be likely to undertake a managerial role in future projects, said Ma, “but we are careful in considering factors such as financial viability of projects and risks,” he added, according to the SCMP.

During the forum, the MTR chairman was informed that the tender for the rail project would be due at the end of this year, with a proposed completion date set in 2026.

If the company bids for the project and is successful, the Malaysia-Singapore project would be MTR Corp’s first investment under the Belt and Road Initiative.

However, the company has already been involved in several partnership schemes with railway companies in Southeast Asia. Last year, the MTR Corp established an academy for training engineers from Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.

It has also signed an agreement with Macau’s Light Rail Transit (LRT) administrators to provide assistance, training, technical support and the “demands for personnel management” for the territory’s upcoming light rail system. DB