PETALING JAYA, Apr 7 (Sin Chew Daily) — The East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project should not be delayed any further, says Lee Heng Guie, Executive Director of the Associated Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Malaysia (ACCCIM) Socio-Economic Research Center.

The ECRL project should proceed once the project is finalized, said Lee. 

There should be no further changes to ECRL as investors have made their plans, he said, adding that investors may pull out if the project keeps changing.

Additional costs would be incurred if the ECRL routes are to be realigned, he said.

"We hope there will be no further changes for the ECRL project from now till 2027. The entire project involves land acquisition and this should not be taken lightly.

"If the project is still not finalized at this moment, foreign investors may lose their confidence in Malaysia," Lee said.

He said he was not holding anyone accountable in his comments but said any further delay in the project would only cost more and take longer time to complete.

The 665km rail project was announced by the Barisan Nasional government in 2016. The route was amended when Pakatan Harapan took over as the federal government in 2018, and now the project comes under the Perikatan Nasional government.

The ECRL project was awarded to China Communications Construction Company Ltd (CCCC) to construct the 688km of railroad and 24 stations at RM66.5 billion by the BN government.

The Pakatan Harapan government decided to put the ECRL project on hold in 2018. By then 15% of construction work had been completed. The Pakatan Harapan government then negotiated with China to resume the rail project with a supplementary agreement. The route was realigned to 640km with a lower estimated cost of RM44 billion.

The number of stations was reduced to 20, including five cargo stations and one cargo terminal.

In March last year, the PN government announce that ECRL project would be realigned and the latest route was approved on September 2.

Transport minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong announced the latest route for the ECRL project with some amendments in Section C. The estimated cost would increase from RM44 billion under the PH government to RM50 billion now.

The project is scheduled for completion in December 2026.