Singapore—Malaysia’s Ministry of Transport announced that it has come to an agreement with Singapore to extend the decision regarding the construction of the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System Link.
The two countries set the new deadline for Oct 31. The decision involves constructing the RTS Link without additional costs.
The RTS Link was expected to be completed by 2024. The project is now behind schedule due to several repeated delays and missed milestones.
In May 2019, Malaysia agreed to reimburse Singapore an amount of S$600,000 for the suspension of the construction until Sept 30.
RTS Link Project suspended till end September at Malaysia’s request
Malaysia reportedly needed to confirm its joint venture partner company for the project as per a January 2018 bilateral agreement between Singapore. The agreement also determined other features of the project such as the maintenance and customs facilities and its operator.
In June 2018, the joint venture company between Singapore’s SMRT and Malaysia’s Prasarana Malaysia should have also been appointed as the operator for the RTS Link. The milestones have not been met.
The RTS Link, when constructed, aims to connect Bukit Chagar in Johor Bahru to Woodlands in Singapore. The infrastructure is designed to carry up to 10,000 passengers every hour in each direction and eventually alleviate heavy traffic conditions./TISG