Wan Agyl Wan Hassan, founder of the transport think tank MY Mobility Vision, said the people deserve to know what is causing the delays instead of being kept in the dark with “vague statements and shifting deadlines”.

Clear and constant updates should be provided if the government is serious about being open and accountable, Wan Agyl said.

His remarks were in response to a Singapore news report that the RM9.55 billion project had run into problems in Segamat with electricity supply for the trains, causing rail services from Gemas to Segamat, due to start in July, to be delayed to late November.

The Gemas-JB project is to complete a 692km rail network from Padang Besar to Johor Bahru. Work on the 192km southern stretch began in 2017, with completion originally due in October 2021 but the deadline has been pushed to April 2025.

Wan Agyl said Malaysia needed a strong policy framework to prevent project delays from becoming routine. He said delays to the Gemas-JB project had displayed a worrying habit by the government to “put out fires” instead of planning ahead to identify potential roadblocks such as land acquisition disputes or technical challenges, and tackling them.

Wan Agyl said the repeated delays also called into question the performance of YTL Construction and joint venture partner, SIPP Rail. It was unclear to the public whether contractors faced any real penalties for missed deadlines or if they have incentives tied to completing work on time.

“Malaysians also have good reason to wonder how contractors for this project were chosen and what standards they’re being held to,” he said.

He added the manner in which the project is being managed suggests a gap between these ideals of transparency, accountability, as well as good governance and the reality which could erode public trust.