PUTRAJAYA, Dec 6 — Ongoing projects under the Ministry of Transport (MOT) including the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) will be continued, its minister Anthony Loke said.

He said the ECRL will proceed without any other amendments, after the project was reviewed by the previous Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration.

"In general, that is our approach. But I know that for a fact for MOT one major project is, of course, there will be continuity with the ECRL,” Loke told reporters during a press conference after clocking in for his return to the ministry here.

"I’ve mentioned even during the [election] campaign, in the event we take back the government, this project will continue because we know that it has gone through many rounds of negotiations and changes in terms of routing.

"We don’t want to make any other amendments at this point of time because it has started and construction has begun and I think the project if progressing well,” he added.

In November, former transport minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong condemned Loke for making the ECRL a tool to convince voters’ support.

Wee reportedly said it was PH’s fault that the ECRL was halted which led to losses running into billions of ringgit.

Wee also criticised Loke for promising something already established by the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration and questioned why Loke did not speak about variation costs and abandonment costs for changing the alignment.

"As far as the ECRL is concerned, it will proceed,” Loke reiterated.

The ECRL which spans 665km will pass through Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and Selangor and will serve as a bridge between the Kuantan Port and Port Klang.

The project construction began on August 2017, but was halted following the change of government in 2018 and was resumed in 2019.