<![CDATA[Mahathir's government agrees to revive China-backed Bandar Malaysia project]>
Malaysia is reviving a China-backed prime Kuala Lumpur property project shelved two years ago, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Friday, in the latest indication that his government is rigorously ironing out bilateral sticking points ahead of next week's Belt and Road Forum in Beijing.
The revival of the multibillion dollar Bandar Malaysia project " put in cold storage in 2017 by Mahathir's predecessor Najib Razak " comes just a week after his government signed a fresh deal with Beijing to resume stalled work on the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), another megaproject with China links.
A local political analyst said the fresh development showed pragmatism on Mahathir's part as he tempered his long held dim view of Beijing-funded projects in the interest of safeguarding bilateral ties with Malaysia's biggest trading partner.
In a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, Mahathir said his government decided on Wednesday to revive the deal in the spirit of enhancing ties with China.
"Like the ECRL, the Bandar Malaysia project should be viewed within the larger context of fostering and cementing long-term bilateral relations between Malaysia and China while ensuring such projects add maximum economic value to the country," he said.
Its development was a sensitive issue for Najib because the land on which it was to have been built was linked to the now-disgraced 1MDB state fund " by then already mired in the multibillion financial scandal for which he is now facing dozens of criminal charges.
Amid disagreements between Najib's government and the project's developers in 2017, the then prime minister abruptly terminated the contract.
A last-ditch attempt to rope in Chinese developer Dalian Wanda as a replacement for the original developer also failed, as it came under pressure from Beijing to rein in its overseas ventures.
The original players in the consortium behind Bandar Malaysia were China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC), one of the mainland's two biggest railway builders, and Malaysian firm Iskandar Waterfront Holdings. The consortium was the winner of an international open-tender exercise.
While the Singapore-Malaysia high-speed rail project has been put on ice, Mahathir said the development could yet pull in some 140 billion ringgit (US$33.8 billion) in "gross development value".
Visitors view a scale model of the East Coast Rail Link. Photo: AP
The ECRL and Bandar Malaysia will "be a significant contribution to the Belt and Road Initiative which Malaysia expects to be able to tap on and exploit its multiplier effects along the value chain," Mahathir said on Friday.
The 93-year-old leader said his government had asked the consortium to make changes to the original plan for the development. Among them are the inclusion of 10,000 "affordable" homes, a new "people's park", and increased involvement of local entities in construction works.
Political analyst Awang Azman Awang Pawi said the continuation of the ECRL and Bandar Malaysia projects showed the limits of Mahathir's power as the one-year anniversary of his government nears.
"He cannot undo everything [from the Najib era] ... he has to find a compromise in the interests of the people and the country," the University of Malaya political science professor said. "This shows the legacy of the Najib government. Not all their ideas and projects were unbeneficial," he said.
In the press conference, Mahathir suggested the consortium behind the project had been hard done by Najib because of the abrupt cancellation of its contract.
At that time, observers had suggested the termination had to do with disagreements between Najib and Lim Kang Hoo, the property mogul behind Iskandar Waterfront Holdings. Lim's firm was to have bought 60 per cent of the venture from 1MDB.
The collapse of the deal cast a major shadow over Najib as he attended the first iteration of the Belt and Road Forum in May 2017.
Mahathir is among dozens of world leaders who will descend on Beijing next week for the second edition of the forum " which seeks to gather thoughts on the China-led initiative to enhance infrastructure links between itself and the world.
The forum is being held amid rising concerns among countries " especially in the West " that the initiative has strategic undertones, and is being used by Beijing to lure poorer nations into "debt traps" so that they will be more supportive of its interests. China has vigorously refuted such assertions.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday the initiative was "not a geopolitical tool but a platform for cooperation".
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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