KUALA LUMPUR, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia and Singapore jointly announced on Thursday that the deadline for the bidding of the assets company in the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high speed rail (HSR) project has been extended by six months to Dec. 28, after bidders requested for more time to develop tender submissions.

The extension of time will not affect the Dec. 31, 2026 date for the commencement of the high speed rail service, said MyHSR Corporation and SG HSR Pte Ltd., the two companies representing the two governments, in a statement.

The two companies expect to complete their evaluation and announce the tender results by the third quarter of 2019, according to the statement.

The extension decision was made "in view of the complexity and scale of the project," said MyHSR Corp's chief executive officer Mohd Nur Ismal Mohamed Kamal and SG HSR's managing director Rama Venkta in the statement.

"While the bidders are progressing with their tender preparations, they have also requested for additional time to develop their tender submissions that offer better value to both governments," said the statement.

The Assets Company tender, which aims to find an entity responsible for designing, building, financing, operating and maintaining all assets for the HSR project, was called by the two sides on Dec. 20, 2017.

Mohd Nur Ismal told reporters earlier this month that six potential bidders were expected to bid for the project, including consortia from China, Japan, South Korea and Europe.