Malaysia Offers To Sell Electricity To S'pore

PUTRAJAYA, Jan 5 (Bernama) -- Malaysia has offered to sell electricity to Singapore as the neighbouring countries explore new areas of opportunities for future collaborations. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said he made the proposal to his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong during the Malaysia-Singapore Leaders' Retreat here on Thursday. Describing the meeting as "very productive and fruitful", Najib said both countries agreed that they should look at additional pathways to enhance bilateral ties. "On Malaysia's side, I proposed to Prime Minister Lee on the possibility of Malaysia selling electricity to Singapore, which he warmly welcomed," he told a joint media conference after a bilateral meeting at his office here on Thursday. Najib said the power supply would be private sector-driven. Lee said Singapore was very open to the proposal if the terms were right, taking into account matters such as the project's impact on the environment. He said his government was preparing a proper framework on the matter. "Once it's ready, Malaysian contractors will be invited to participate and bid for the project," he said. During the two-hour meeting, Najib said he also proposed to Lee to strengthen aviation and airport collaborations between the Senai International Airport in Johor and Changi International Airport in Singapore. Najib said Malaysia was also looking forward to expand and deepen bilateral ties with Singapore including in the areas of education, tourism, culture and sports. Najib and Lee also agreed to cooperate in aligning the radio frequency spectrum plans in both countries for digital broadcast and mobile broadband services. The alignment will allow both countries to meet growing demand for digital television and mobile broadband, improve regional mobile roaming and provide more competitive mobile broadband services. They agreed to work towards greater harmonisation of the spectrum in the Asia-Pacific region for digital broadcast and mobile broadband services, according to a joint statement issued by the two countries. -- BERNAMA Malaysia