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.