Singapore-Kuala Lumpur high-speed rail deferred to end-2020

Construction was previously delayed until the end of May.

Singapore and Malaysia agreed to delay until the end of 2020 work on a railway that would connect the city-state to Kuala Lumpur, extending a postponement of a project that was unveiled seven years ago.

The two countries will resume talks on proposed changes to the multibillion-dollar project’s commercial and technical sides in the near future, Azmin Ali, Malaysia’s senior minister of international trade and industry, said in a statement. He gave no reason for the extended delay. Construction was previously delayed until the end of May.

“This should provide sufficient time for Malaysia to clarify its proposal and for both sides to assess the implications of the proposed changes,” said Singapore’s Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan in a Facebook post.

The project has been on hold since Malaysia went through a change of government two years ago that saw the ouster of former leader Najib Razak, who first unveiled plans for the railway in 2013.

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