KUCHING, March 31 — The Sarawak government has not been officially informed of a proposal made by a Brunei-based company to start a high-speed rail network that would pass several destinations in the state.

Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg said except by knowing about the plan from media reports that he read recently, the Sarawak government had yet to be approached by the proponent of the project.

“It’s probably a private sector proposal that doesn’t involve the government because if we were to build the Kalimantan-Borneo railway, there must be agreement between Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei,” he said.

Met by reporters after attending an event here today, he said the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) is still in the midst of conducting feasible studies to create a railway network to link Sarawak with the other regions in Borneo.

“They will engage in Government-to-Government (G-to-G) discussions with Indonesia and also Brunei so that there is consensus in developing the Borneo railway,” he added.

Meanwhile, Brunei Transport and Information Communications Minister, Pengiran Datuk Seri Setia Shamhary Mustapha said that there had been no official discussion at the government level with regards to the Trans Borneo railway proposal.

However, Shamhary, as reported by Brunei-based newspaper Borneo Bulletin, said his ministry was aware of the aspirations of the company to provide train services within Borneo but it still requires further study.

“Even though there has been no official discussion at government level about it, at the Asean level, there is an Asean Railway SubWorking Group which discusses matters related to railway connectivity within Asean so this matter may be raised in the future,” he said, quoted by the newspaper

The proposal by Brunei-based Brunergy Utama Sdn Bhd to start a high-speed rail network in Borneo had caught media attention recently as the plan aimed to shorten travelling time between Brunei, Sarawak, Kalimantan and Sabah.

The company said the US$70 billion (RM330 billion) project would be implemented in two phases involving routes of over 1,600 kilometres that would be served by high speed trains that could reach the speed of up to 350 km/h. — Bernama