MRT Construction Packages

The English daily carried the news that two more of the MRT construction packages to be announced. I think the announcement is nicely time to coincide with the coming general election, as the benefits are numerous.

So far, only 2 of the packages were announced. They were:

V5 - awarded to IJM construction with the estimated value of rm947mil.

V6 - awarded to Ahmad Zaki with the value of rm764m

The next two to be announced are:

- V1 - Sungai Buluh to Kota Damansara. The segment is considered a Bumi section with 8 qualified companies eyeing the job.

- V4 - Section 16 Petaling Jaya to Semantan. This is an open sectors, that mean, the any companies can bet for the contract. There are 11 companies qualified to compete for the work.

There are a total of 8 packages with average value of rm500mil, making the MRT the largest project in Malaysia.

The project saw the creation of a new entity called PDP, the project delivery partner. The term of reference is not clear and it is a foreign concept unfamiliar to the developed nations. The earlier government projects were widely criticized, as experienced by the submarine project which involved a commission of rm500million paid to a company associated with high ranking person.

Illegal Sand Mine

Since the last election in 2008 when the opposition took over Selangor, the story of sand mine were in the paper far to often. It did appear that the problem started when the opposition took over the state. Other states like Pahang and Negeri Sembilan came clean.

However, many Malaysian took news with a pinch of salt. Since the public do not have the privy to the government activities and the opposition states are not given a fair access to mass media, many of the people just turned blind eyes, until the newpaper published the story on 3 apr 2012 about an illegal mine had been operating for 14 years.

What was more shocking was the news about high ranking officer was quoted as receiving monthly allowance. A drawing included showed that a police station about 1 km away.

For the benefit of new readers, Malaysia practices a federal and state power sharing, where the majority of power lies at Federal level. The power to arrest lies with federal officers.

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Batu Berendam Airport Projects

The local starnews published the big plans for Batu Berendam Airport in Malacca. Due to its close proximity to Kuala Lumpur, the airport lost its luster when the highway connecting the two cities was built. It did not make any economic sense to take a flight, as the total time, inclusive of the travel to the airports and the waiting time, it would be faster to drive.

However the Malacca chief minister has different idea. He wanted to make it to Asia Pacific regional hub, whatever, his intent was, he is putting Malacca airport in direct competition with KLIA.

The minister was counting the maiden flight by Sky Aviation from Malacca to Tanjung Pinang in Indonesia.

Malacca tried very hard to promote itself. These are some the costly efforts...

a. A Dato title was awarded to a Bollywood film star. When asked, the reason given was, he will help to promote tourism to Malacca.

b. A monorail was launched by the chief minister to commemorate the self declaration of Malacca as a developed state. The monorail because an instant headlines with numerous breakdowns. Tourist from UK were given a free lesson on rope climbing when there were rescued,

Batu Berendam may well be another site for MRO or repair center for aircrafts. It depend so much of the top management of the state.