PORT KLANG: Construction of the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) is progressing as scheduled despite the COVID-19 outbreak.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said the project, which will connect Port Klang and Kota Bharu, is currently 15% complete.
According to him, 13 ECRL workers, who went back to China for the Chinese New Year holiday last month, have yet to return but their absence has not affected the construction as most of the workers are locals.
“We have also not received any request from the financing company, Export-Import Bank of China (EXIM), to delay the payment of funds for this project. We are confident that ECRL will be fully operational in January 2027,” he said after visiting the ECRL Project Public Inspection site here today.
With him were Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd (MRL) chairman Tan Sri Ismail Bakar and MRL CEO Datuk Seri Darwis Abd Razak.
Loke sees the ECRL complementing the National Transport Policy in the government’s aspiration to increase cargo movement via railway rather than road.
“Aside from reducing the number of heavy vehicles on the road, the ECRL will also connect two ports in Port Klang, which are Westports and the proposed Carey Island Port,” he added.
The ECRL project, suspended by the government in July 2018 pending negotiations to lower construction costs, was resumed after MRL and China Communications Construction Company Ltd signed a supplementary agreement on April 12, 2019.
The agreement entailed reducing the project costs to RM21.5 bil from the original RM65.5 bil. – Feb 13, 2020, Bernama
