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PUTRAJAYA: The government has decided that the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) project can be revived if there is full participation from the private sector, with minimal government involvement, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Anwar, who is also the finance minister, said the government’s current position is to invite the participation of the private sector because the government has limitations and is still waiting for “promising” proposals.

“We have to put the issues of poverty alleviation, flood mitigation, basic infrastructure, education and public health as our priority, at least for the next one or two years, so the mega projects have to be deferred because of the commitment to settling some outstanding issues.

“We are still waiting for some promising and positive contribution or participation by the private sector to proceed when necessary... there have been proposals and the task force is looking at it,” he said during a joint press conference with Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in conjunction with Wong’s two-day official visit to Malaysia which started yesterday.

Wong said the Singapore government is open to listening to new proposals from Malaysia on the revival of the HSR project.

“It was very unfortunate that we were not able to proceed with it originally. From our point of view, greater connectivity between our two countries is always a plus,” he added.