MyHSR Corp’s high-speed rail (HSR) project to link Kuala Lumpur to Singapore was cancelled or set aside by the previous two administrations but it has been revived by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

MyHSR’s chief executive officer Mohd Nur Ismal Mohamed Kamal recently announced that it has appointed Fauzi Abdul Rahman as its chairman. While Fauzi might be a suitable candidate for the post, the project needs to come under the minute scrutiny of Parliament.

According to media reports, Nur Ismal said in a statement that Fauzi’s expertise and experience will steer MyHSR Corp to realise the HSR project. “Fauzi will provide strategic guidance and support to the board while ensuring MyHSR Corp fulfills the aspiration of the government to fully privatise the HSR project through a Private Financing Initiative (PFI),” he elaborated.

MyHSR Corp is owned by the Ministry of Finance Incorporated and Anwar is also the finance minister.

Fully privatising the HSR project through a PFI raises many questions. Will the government have a share in any private company or consortium which wins the award to undertake the HSR project? Will it be a controlling share? More importantly, will the government be able to intervene, influence and control the PFI in order to protect the interests of the people?

A controlling interest by the government will ensure that the fares and the cost of amenities for travelling on the HSR will not be prohibitive to the people and if they are, the government will be able to intervene and control prices for the benefit of the people.

If the PFI is 100% private, the government must ensure that it is not placed in a situation where it would be unable to negotiate to protect the interests of the people because the PFI is fully owned by powerful entities who the government can’t say “No!” to but who, instead, can summon the prime minister and/or his ministers and they run to meet these entities and can’t decline.

The selection process through tender would thus become very important and begs the question if Anwar will oversee it and whether he should, especially if the applicants are known to him and he is indebted to them.

The HSR is a multi-billion ringgit mega-project and only the big companies would have the funds and experience to take on such a project — or very rich individuals with the clout to form companies to privately fund such a massive rail project.

To ensure that the MyHSR HSR project does not fall into the hands of powerful entities the government has no control over, the project needs to be presented to Parliament and every aspect of the project scrutinised so that there is no abuse of power of any kind and the selection of the PFI is above board and it is owned by people the government is in an advantageous position to negotiate with.

The HSR project is too large a project involving thousands of citizens to be awarded to any PFI without a properly conducted feasibility study and the approval of Parliament.