Will HSR be completed in 2021? Or even 2022? Well, 2020 is a little too short as a deadline. Are there people waiting for news about High Speed Rail before buying properties in Greater KL? What about buying properties in the Singaporean side of the HSR station? It was earlier announced that the station would be in Jurong East. Well, to be honest I sometimes forget that we have a High Speed Rail (HSR) project between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. The news was first announced so many years before and was shelved before being revived because the leaders of both countries felt that this would be a catalyst for further economic integration.
Regardless of which country would benefit more, I think it’s needed especiallly if China’s plans to link ASIA is really happening. Read here: Kunming to Singapore with Pan-Asian railway With regards to the HSR, there’s hardly any new news about it. I also think this is a future project because it will help future growth. If we are thinking about buying today and waiting for many years, even if nearby any of the stations proposed, we should abandon the idea for now. There are definitely other better choices which may be slightly shorter in terms officiating time and more certain.
In a local daily today, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced that the memorandum of understanding (MOU) will be signed with Singapore in mid-2016. I assume this to mean June 2016. Do note that an MOU is not the same a binding agreement and there’s much more items which both countries would need to agree upon before we can talk about the next steps. What are the next steps? Here: KL – SG High Speed Rail, still many things to talk Let’s hope something more concrete can be decided during the annual retreat for the leaders of both countries. Last year, it was in May, perhaps this year it would be in May and the MOU signed right after some discussion and agreement on how best to proceed.
I think the two countries waiting even more eagerly would be China and Japan which would be competing to be the provider of the HSR system. I do not think other HSR providers out of Asia would win but let’s wait for the MOU first. Oh yeah, for property investments in Greater KL, buy objectively. I do not believe we should only concentrate on HSR.
written on 12 Apr 2016
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