Malaysia’s King to seek funds for high-speed rail on China visit, sources say

BEIJING – Malaysia’s King, Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, is planning to seek funding from Chinese investors for a multibillion-dollar, high-speed rail project between Malaysia and Singapore, according to people familiar with the matter.

He is looking for investments from a Chinese state-owned company, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose Belt and Road Initiative has fuelled an infrastructure boom across Asia and Africa, invited the King for a four-day state visit that began on Sept 19 to deepen strategic ties.

Sultan Ibrahim’s delegation includes representatives of YTL, the people said. The Malaysian company is one of the three groups shortlisted for the project, The Edge Malaysia reported in March.

YTL executive chairman Francis Yeoh told Bloomberg TV in November it was interested, while stopping short of confirming its participation in the bidding process.

Sultan Ibrahim has been a long-time backer of the rail link, which Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s government revived in 2023 with a caveat that it would not be funded by taxpayers.

Sultan Ibrahim told The Straits Times in December

that a private consortium could fund it and operate it for 30 years to recoup expenses before handing it back to the Malaysian government.

Malaysia’s national palace, China’s Foreign Ministry and a representative for YTL did not respond to requests for comment. The Transport Ministry also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a Sept 18 statement that the visit symbolises the robust state of the two countries’ relations.

Sultan Ibrahim became Malaysia’s King in January under the country’s unique rotating monarchy where nine hereditary rulers take turns to serve five-year terms. He rules the southernmost state of Johor, which borders Singapore.

Malaysia’s monarch plays a mostly ceremonial role, though the royal rulers have become increasingly important in determining who holds power in the country amid a rapid turnover of leaders in recent years.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke, who is part of the delegation, told Bloomberg News in July the Cabinet would decide on the project’s viability by the end of 2024.

Seven local and international groups comprising 31 firms submitted proposals, MyHSR Corporation, a Malaysian government agency overseeing the project, said in January, without naming them.

The bidders were whittled down to a shortlist of three, The Edge Malaysia said in its report in March. They are a group that includes the construction arm of YTL, one involving tycoon Vincent Tan’s Berjaya Land, and a Chinese consortium headed by state-owned China Railway Construction, the newspaper said.

Mr Loke confirmed that there was a shortlist of three in the interview with Bloomberg, but declined to name them.

He said the government’s policy is to have the project led by a consortium that is at least 51 per cent Malaysian-owned.

In the interview with ST, Sultan Ibrahim said the high-speed rail project should be aligned so that the border crossing is through Forest City, a property development in Johor.

It is operated by a joint venture between troubled Chinese developer Country Garden Holdings and a Malaysian firm owned by Sultan Ibrahim, a Johor state government agency and others.

The rail line – which aims to cut travel time between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to 90 minutes from more than four hours by car – was projected to cost as much as RM100 billion (S$31 billion) as a government-funded project.

Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad postponed the project in 2018, about eight years after it was first proposed, citing high costs. It

was formally cancelled in 2021

but the Anwar administration

revived it in 2023

on condition that it would not be funded by taxpayers.

For the project to go ahead, Singapore would also need to approve it. Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said in June he was willing to hear fresh proposals on the rail link.

China has been open to Malaysia’s push to develop railway links. During a visit to Malaysia in June, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said China was willing to back the country on the development of major infrastructure. BLOOMBERG