KL's rail contract to China

KL's rail contract to China

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia is to award China Railway Engineering Corp. a six billion ringgit (US$1.57 billion) railway contract as part of a planned palmoil swap deal, transport ministry officials said Friday.

They confirmed a report in Business Times that the Chinese firm has been picked for the project to double-track the state railway from Seremban 50 km (31 miles) south of Kuala Lumpur down to Johor Baru on the border with Singapore.

"A decision has been made to award the contract to the company," Transport Minister Ling Liong Sik was quoted as saying.

Ling said negotiations on design, alignment and track-laying are at a preliminary stage.

The project is part of a barter trade arrangement between Malaysia and China to swap some eight million tons of palmoil over five to six years for the rail contract.

Malaysia and India last week signed a memorandum of understanding on a similar deal for double-tracking some 300 km (186 miles) of the railway from the northern city of Ipoh up to the Thai border.