Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Mahathir at it again

From the Star:

The amount of money spent to build the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) project does not justify the number of jobs it could generate, said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
“If you are going to spend RM60bil to RM100bil so that thousands of people can work, that's not very efficient,” he said to reporters after hosting Ramadan break-of-fast event at Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC).
Again, the PM Mahathir doesn't seem to get it.  He looks at construction and the jobs it creates.  Instead, I would suggest to think about construction and what it does for the country.

For a backstory into the PM, lets look at his crowning glory, Putrajaya.  At that time, Malaysia was under increasing international pressure for an IMF bailout.  Backed into a corner, he instituted capital controls.  Also, many media outlets credit the construction of Putrajaya as what has brought Malaysia out of recession for the many jobs it created.  Dr. M should be pleased.

However, all these items are debateable whether this is what has saved Malaysia in the past.  But lets look at what Putrajaya does.  It's a whole bunch of buildings, pretty much in the middle of nowhere.  Outside of government hours, it's a dead city.  To me, it does nothing for Malaysia.

Now what does the HSR do for the country.  Why do we need this?  well, we don't.  Nothing is needed per say.  But what does it do? It gives an almost direct connection between the heart of KL and Singapore. 

The only other method is through flying, but unfortunately, one has to endure 1 hour of traffic minimum to the airport, two hours of waiting for the flight, expensive cab fares, landing, deplaning,  waiting for baggage, delays, etc. 

Hopefully the cost can be negotiated down, but the cost when I first heard about it was 10-20 billion ringgit.  Don't be so hasty to say no Dr. M. 

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