Singapore, Malaysia Resolve 20-year Land, Water Disputes
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From Singapore, Malaysia resolve 20-year land, water disputes. (Asiaone)and Better travel links to Malaysia
Singapore and Malaysia said on Monday they have resolved long-standing disputes over land and water that have plagued ties between the two neighbours for the past 20 years.Previous Post Next PostMalaysia will relocate its railway station near Singapore's central business district to an area close to one of the two bridges linking the two countries, freeing up land in the city-state for redevelopment.
Malaysia has sovereignty over the site on which the Tanjong Pagar station is located, as well as land on both sides of the railway tracks that run through Singapore, under agreements dating back to British colonial rule.
Singapore said in turn it would not seek to extend a water agreement dating back to 1961, which allowed the city-state to buy water from the southern Malaysian state of Johor at below-market rates. Singapore will also hand over the waterworks it operates in Johor to the Malaysian state government when the current agreement lapses.
The agreement between the two countries emerged after a meeting between Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
"The points of agreement would facilitate resolution of the issue which has been outstanding for more than 19 years," the two countries said in a joint statement.
The railway station in Tanjong Pagar, owned by Malaysia's Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM), will move to the Woodlands Train Checkpoint by July 1 next year. This might be moved to Johor when the proposed rapid transit system is up.
Malaysia will co-locate its railway Customs, Immigration and Quarantine facilities at the checkpoint.
The Tanjong Pagar site and five other parcels of land in Singapore owned by Malaysia - in Bukit Timah, Kranji and Woodlands - will be managed by a new company jointly owned by Malaysia and Singapore.
They may be swopped for pieces of land of equivalent value in Marina South and/or the Ophir and Rochor area.
Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will visit Kuala Lumpur within a month with a proposal for the swop, after both countries conduct their own valuations of the land.
The railway buildings at Tanjong Pagar and Bukit Timah will be conserved.
The issue of Malaysian railway land here has dogged bilateral relations for decades, and stalled after both countries signed the Points of Agreement (POA) on its status and development in 1990.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said that the deal was "historic because we see now the light at the end of the tunnel with respect to an outstanding issue that has been lingering almost 20 years".
PM Lee said: "It enables us to move forward on so many other areas, to cooperate and work together for mutual benefits without having this outstanding issue always there."
Asked why the deal worked now, he said: "There's a willingness on both sides to look forward and to resolve this matter.
"There is urgency. This matter really cannot wait indefinitely because it's already been 20 years and there are many development projects in Singapore which have been held up because the POA has not been implemented as it should have been many years ago."
He added that both sides recognised the need to work together and develop a win-win relationship to stay ahead of the competition from other countries in Asia.
The company, called M-S Pte Ltd, will be set up before the end of this year, with Malaysia's Khazanah Nasional holding 60 per cent of the shares, and Singapore's Temasek Holdings taking the remaining 40 per cent.
The ownership of the six parcels of land will be transferred to it when KTM vacates Tanjong Pagar Railway Station.
BY 2018, commuters will be able to travel between Singapore and Malaysia's Johor Baru and Tanjung Puteri using a rapid-transit system, to be jointly developed by Singapore and Malaysia, the prime ministers of both countries said yesterday.
The toll charges for the Second Link will be cut on both sides; the number of cross-border bus services will be doubled with eight new bus services; and cross-border taxi services will be liberalised, among other measures to improve connectivity between both countries.