He said the 7% that has not been completed involved section C of the rail alignment, which is in Selangor.

“The 7% is not a big amount. However, if there is a delay (in land acquisition), it will affect the completion time. Otherwise, the project can be completed on time,” he told Malaysian reporters in a special interview recently.

CHEC is a subsidiary of China Communications Construction Company Ltd (CCCC), the main contractor of the ECRL project.

Zhang said the construction of the project has achieved 50.29% progress till the middle of last month and is on track to be completed by the end of 2027.

“The project is divided into three sections, A, B and C. We have finished most of the civil work in sections A and B, so, roughly this project is half finished,” he added.

He said the project is expected to provide up to 18,000 job opportunities for Malaysians.

The implementation of the project will also see more than 5,000 technicians trained in railway construction and operation, he added.

According to Zhang, they have also implemented environmental protection including changing the design of the alignment and adopting advanced TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine) equipment to replace the traditional mining methods, such as blasting and excavation for tunnel construction, to minimise the impact of the project on the environment.

He said the project could stimulate economic development and is very crucial to improving connectivity between the east coast and west coast in the peninsula.

The project, which is also a key part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Malaysia, will also strengthen bilateral relations between both countries.

ECRL is a proposed railway infrastructure project designed to improve connectivity between the east coast states of Kelantan, Terengganu, and Pahang, with the west coast states of Negeri Sembilan, Selangor, and Putrajaya.