<span style="color: #222222;">Malaysia has scrapped a multi-billion dollar China-backed rail project, citing high construction costs. Minister of Economic Affairs, Azmin Ali said Malaysia does not have the financial ability at this time to bear the cost of the project. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">He said, if the project would not have been terminated, Malaysia would have to pay a massive interest payment. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The Minister did not say how much compensation Malaysia would have to pay for cancelling the project. He said, it would be determined by the Finance Ministry.<br />''  </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The 19.6 billion US dollars East Coast Rail Link would have connected the eastern and western coasts of the peninsula. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Malaysia has, in recent months, suspended several major projects signed under the country's previous scandal-plagued regime, in a bid to cut the country's 251 billion US dollars debt. </span><br />''