–Malaysia and China’s agree to restart project at reduced cost of $10.7bnKUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia would have faced a $5-billion penalty if a China-backed rail project was axed, the prime minister said on Monday, after a deal was reached to revive the controversial scheme. Last week, Malaysia and China agreed to push ahead with the railway at a 30 per cent lower cost, lifting a suspension slapped on the project when a corruption-plagued regime lost power in Malaysia last year. Announcing further details on Monday, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said that the government “was faced with the choice to either renegotiate or pay termination costs of about 21.78 billion ringgit ($5.3 billion), with nothing to show for it. The Chinese firm had agreed to refund one billion ringgit from a 3.1 billion ringgit advance payment previously paid by Malaysia towards the project, he said. Malaysia will still need to take a loan from a Chinese state-owned bank to fund the line but it will be less than under the original deal.

Source: Pakistan Today April 15, 2019 16:22 UTC