KUALA LUMPUR, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- A Malaysian consulting firm was given a Social Impact Assessment (SIA) contract for the Kuala Lumpur - Singapore High Speed Rail project on Friday, as part of the effort to mitigate potential social impact by the mega transportation project.

Malaysia's project delivery vehicle for the rail project, MyHSR Corporation (MyHSR), said in a statement that it had awarded the contract to Malaysian firm ERE Consulting Group, following an open tender exercise which was launched in November 2017.

According to MyHSR, the appointed firm will be responsible to complete an assessment on the possible social impact arising from the implementation of the KL-SG HSR project within Malaysia.

The study will also include a heritage impact assessment to ensure that the project complies with the relevant policies and plans, it said.

MyHSR's chief executive officer Mohd Nur Ismal Mohamed Kamal said the appointed consultant will be responsible to assess the possible social impact arising from the three phases of the HSR project, which encompasses the pre-construction, construction and operational phases.

They will analyze all the feedback received from the Public Inspection exercise and will be conducting additional surveys and focus group discussions along the alignment, he added.

"From the assessment, effective mitigation measures will be formulated in order to further minimize any identified social impacts to the affected communities," he said.

The HSR project will cut travel time between the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to 90 minutes once it runs into operation by the end of 2026.