ACC Secretary-General Visited East Coast Rail Line Project of Malaysia

On 1 December 2017, H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), visited the construction site of East Coast Rail Line (ECRL) Project in Malaysia undertaken by China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), and exchanged views with Mr. Chen Zhong, General Manager of Overseas Division of CCCC, Mr. Tang Qiaoliang, General Manager of China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), Mr. Bai Yinzhan, Vice General Manager of CHEC, Mr. Ni Qingjiu, General Manager of Malaysian Sub-company of CCCC, Mr. Deng Bo, Manager of South Pacific Branch of CHEC, Mr. Chen Wei, Party Secretary of South Pacific Branch of CHEC. Mr. Zhang Xuehai, Deputy Director of Information and Public Relations Division of ACC, attended the event.

According to the briefing, ECRL is the largest overseas project undertaken by Chinese enterprises. The contract value reaches RMB 74.5 billion. With a full length of 688 kilometers, designed speed of 160 km/hr for passenger trains and 80 km/hr for freight trains, the project, breaking ground in August 2017, is an electrified railway built in accordance with China's standard for first-class passenger & freight railways. As an important infrastructure construction projects in the east coast economic zone planning of Malaysia, ECRL is designed to stretch from the pivotal cities on east coast to economic centre on west coast, and build an East-West rail artery that would accelerate the development of trade, logistic, export and import, and tourism.

The project management stated that CCCC has been actively participating in Malaysian construction and development since 1980s, and already completed over 30 important infrastructure construction projects. ECRL ranks the largest trade and economic cooperation project between Malaysia and China so far, and will play an important role in deepening bilateral relations. With the continuous support and assistance from ACC, CCCC wishes to continuously expand ASEAN market for infrastructure construction.

Secretary-General Yang Xiuping commended CCCC for its long-term and important contribution to the infrastructure construction and development of Malaysia and other ASEAN countries, and to ASEAN-China mutual-beneficial cooperation. She also recognized CCCC’s efforts to actively contribute to the local community through offering supports and assistance to local socio-economic development which has gained appreciations from various sectors, and set a good image for Chinese enterprises. She encouraged the management to continue to carry out safe production, abide by the local laws and customs to complete the project soundly and timely, so as to benefit the locals. ACC would continue to give full play to its strength by linking ASEAN and Chinese enterprises including CCCC, and make bigger contributions to the all-around and in-depth developments of ASEAN-China relations.