By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, April 1: Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook has clarified that the high-speed rail network connecting Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Kalimantan of Indonesia, known as the Trans Borneo Railway (TBR) project, is still a proposal and has not been offered to any companies.
According to a report by Bernama, Loke said the tender to conduct feasibility studies for the project will only be opened in May.
“The TBR project is currently just a proposal, and this year, the government will implement a feasibility study.
“The Ministry of Transport (MOT) has yet to finalise the tender documents, and the tender for the feasibility study has not yet been offered.
“We expect the feasibility study to take nine months, then only we will know if the project could be implemented or not, in terms of the commercial, technical and other aspects,” he told reporters after the upgraded transportation hub launching ceremony at Terminal 2 of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Sepang today.
Loke further advised all parties to be cautious about any announcements by private companies regarding major projects, adding that any mega projects are only considered valid if the government announces them.
“If they (private company from Brunei) say they want to build a railway track in Sabah and Sarawak, they certainly need approval from the Malaysian government as well as the State governments of Sabah and Sarawak. So far, there has been no such approval, and we have never negotiated with this company.
“So, I would like to advise that any statements or news like this must be verified first because this is confusing the public,” he added.
Yesterday (March 31), Brunergy Utama Sdn Bhd, a company based in Brunei, claimed that it would implement the TBR project which will unfold in two phases, encompassing a proposed route spanning 1,620 kilometres linking Sarawak, Sabah, Brunei and Kalimantan. — DayakDaily
