June 23rd, 2010 | Author: Your Correspondent
By Adib Zalkapli from The Malaysian Insider
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong met Datuk Seri Najib Razak today and made his government’s official offer to the Malaysian government for a swap deal involving Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) land in Singapore.
“Both leaders had a productive meeting on the land swap offer and discussed some initial responses,” said a joint statement from Najib and Lee.
“Both leaders agreed to study the matter further and to meet again in three months’ time after Hari Raya Aidilfitri to finalise the land swap decision,” it added.
Speaking to reporters after the bilateral meeting which lasted almost one hour, Najib said Malaysia would first study the proposal before making a final decision in three months.
“I wish to thank him for the offer. I conveyed to him our position that we will look into it in great detail and we both agreed that the final land swap decision should be finalised within three months from today,” said Najib, adding that he would make another visit to the republic within the period.
“Our discussion today was very warm, very positive and I thank Prime Minister Lee for being very flexible with intention that there will be a final resolution to the POA,” he said at the joint press conference with Lee.
Lee described the final resolution to the Points of Agreement (POA) signed in 1990 as a major decision for Malaysia.
“I had a useful exchange with the PM today and we exchanged some preliminary perspective and views but this is a major decision so Malaysia will think it over further and Singapore will take back comments Malaysia has made and consider them,” he added.
Lee, however, sidestepped the question over disagreement to Singapore’s land swap offer.
“There are specifics which we have made because the overall concept is to swap the three plus three pieces of KTM land with parcels of land in Marina South and/or Ophir Rochor of equivalent value,” said Lee.
“So I have a proposal, laying out several variations for the PM to choose from,” he added.
The meeting today also saw the two leaders agreeing to reduce toll charges at the Second Link by 30 per cent with effect from August to increase use of the bridge.
Last month, the two countries agreed to relocate to Woodlands the 78-year-old Tanjong Pagar railway station operated by KTMB.
The relocation, to take place on July 1 next year, marks a major step in resolving a number of outstanding bilateral issues between the two countries.
Under the agreement last month, the three parcels of KTMB land in Tanjong Pagar, Kranji and Woodlands and three additional pieces of land in Bukit Timah will be vested in the jointly owned M-S Pte Ltd for joint development, which in turn, could be swapped, on the basis of equivalent value, for pieces of land in Marina South and/or Ophir Rochor. – The Malaysian Insider
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