NGOs call for moratorium on ECRL on debt, other concerns

KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 10): Three non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have called for a moratorium on the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), citing infrastructure debt and environmental considerations as concerns.

The Malaysian Nature Society, Pertubuhan Pelindung Khazanah Alam Malaysia and Treat Every Environment Special issued a joint statement yesterday urging the federal government to conduct a comprehensive, multi-stakeholder cost-benefit analysis on the rail project.

“We are fully supportive of Datuk Seri Nazir Razak’s statement in an article published in The Edge Financial Daily on July 20, 2017, that the RM55 billion ECRL project be thoroughly scrutinised as the project should not be solely measured in terms of investment scale, but also in its value proposition,” the statement read.

“We are requesting the federal government to provide more information on the project’s loan repayment, its impacts, and whether the project is going to create a huge infrastructure debt,” it said, citing Nazir’s question on whether Malaysia is “getting the project at the right price”.

The NGOs also highlighted that the ECRL cuts across forests along the Central Forest Spine, possibly causing forest fragmentation, affecting the biodiversity of the surrounding areas, and potentially displacing wildlife.

Furthermore, the environmentally sensitive areas traversed by the ECRL will pose construction and long-term maintenance challenges to the rail line, the NGOs said.

It added that the use of permanent bunds to raise the ECRL track above flood levels would worsen flooding and adversely affect the ecosystem.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on Aug 10, 2017.

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