Southeast Asian countries approve trans-Asia railway project

Southeast Asian countries approve trans-Asia railway project

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Southeast Asian countries have unanimously accepted a proposal to develop a 5,500-kilometer (3,437-mile) transAsia Railway linking eight countries, according to a report Sunday.

Transport Minister Ling Liong Sik was quoted by the New Sunday Times newspaper as saying transport ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) recently met in Brunei and accepted the Malaysian proposal.

The line linking Singapore to the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming was proposed by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in 1995. Total cost is estimated at US$2.5 billion.

Ling said Mahathir would submit the proposal at international conferences involving ASEAN countries to get further feedback for the project.

The railway would link Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Kunming. There would also be branches to Vientiane in Laos, the port of Bung Anh in Vietnam and to Myanmar.

All expect China are members of ASEAN.

In late September Ling said ASEAN leaders would debate the plan at their Singapore summit in November.

If all concerned accepted the recommendations, preliminary work would start soon and the whole project was expected to be completed by 2006, he added.

Ling had also said all eight countries use the same gauge track. He forecast an economic boom in areas surrounding the new line, adding: "This will be very good for ASEAN."

Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines, also members of ASEAN, are not involved in the project.