Three local consortiums tender Circle Line

The Malaysian Reserve, 22 January 2018

Three Malaysian consortiums and a Chinese company have submitted the turnkey tenders with financing for the MRT Circle Line that closed last Thursday.

Mass Rapid Transit Corp Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp) last Friday noted the consortiums were Sapura-TIEC Consortium, MMC Corp Bhd-Gamuda Bhd-George Kent (M) Bhd joint venture (JV), Pacific-Mudahjaya- JEC Consortium and China Communications Construction Co Ltd- China Communications Construction Co (M) Sdn Bhd JV.

MRT Corp added an evaluation will be conducted based on the three evaluation criteria — technical, financial standing and financing package — before a recommendation can be submitted to the Ministry of Finance for decision and final approval.

MRT Corp’s Circle Line project director Datuk Zohari Sulaiman said the firm was pleased with the good response where the majority of the tenderers are local consortiums which have been able to fulfil the requirements of participating in this tender.

“The resulting participation in the tender, which commenced on Nov 15, 2017, has proven the critics to be wrong, particularly on the remarks that the turnkey tender model would close the opportunity for local companies,” he said in a statement.

The contract is expected to be awarded within the first quarter of 2018 (1Q18). Zohari added the tender was on a turnkey basis, instead of a direct appointment, to encourage a more competitive financing option.

“Adopting the turnkey tender allows MRT Corp to seek the best option for funding the project through finding candidates with the lowest financial cost.”

“However, if the financing package options are not favourable, we will revert to the old financing structure, which is through DanaInfra Nasional Bhd,” he said.

MRT Corp enforces the participation of Malaysian and Bumiputera companies as one of the conditions of the turnkey contract to ensure of local participation.

“MRT Corp ensures that our Bumiputera agenda is carried on with the Circle Line, as how we have been championing for the first and second MRT lines, the MRT Sungai Buloh- Kajang Line and the MRT Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Put rajaya Line,” Zohari added.

MRT Corp noted it received requests by participating tenderers to extend the closing date until Jan 18, 2018, from Dec 29, 2017, to allow them to finalise their proposals.

“With the closing tender, MRT Corp will continue to work on preparations for other activities including the Detailed Forecast Ridership Study, Detailed Environment Impact Assessment, Social Impact Assessment and Heritage Impact Assessment,” it said.

(Web source: https://themalaysianreserve.com/2018/01/22/three-local-consortiums-tender-circle-line/)