George Kent is Capable Said Najib

The Malaysian PM is coming out to defend the contractor George Kent. In the newspaper report, it was said that..." the company was able to meet the criteria stipulated in the contract and offered the second lowest out of 8 bidders". It seem odd to the majority of the people, how could the company get the contract. Consider this...
a. The contract awarded is RM1.08billion.
b. George main business .. water meter and water infrastructure.
c. Size of the company...2011 total sale rm165million.
d. About Balfour Beatty --- 2011 total sale USD3.5billion

From freemalaysia site... "Copies of official documents given to the press showed that Najib had signed the approval to award the contract to Balfour Beatty Invensys Consortium, but he was later said to be keen on granting the project to George Kent consortium instead."

I am sure that there is a criteria and selection guides designed in the selection process. The selected company will then sign the contract. It had never been done that the ability to meet the contract is used to select a company. What happen if all 8 are able to meet the contract. Would you trust a person who has never build a single rail track to take the project.

If you want to build a house, not many people will give the project to a contractor who says.. "I have never build a house before..."

George Kent Awarded The Ampang MRT

George Kent, a company specializing in making meters for water meters was awarded the contract to upgrade the Ampang LRT.
About George Kent..."George Kent is an engineering company involved in  manufacturing, trading and investment and development of  water infrastructure projects. The core business is in the water  industry. It has contributed to the nation’s manufacturing growth  by building up over the years to become the leader in the region  in brass products manufacturing. George Kent is the market  leader in the supply of control instrumentation, telemetry, pipes,  valves and fittings, industrial and domestic water meters, boilers,  incinerators and building automation systems..."  ... extracted from 2011 annual report..

The Star paper on 31 July published the news about the awards... KUALA LUMPUR: Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd has awarded the George Kent-Lion Pacific joint venture the contract to undertake the system works for the Ampang LRT line extension project.
Prasarana, which is the project and asset owner of the LRT line extension project, had on Tuesday said the contract would involve the engineering, procurement, construction, testing and commissioning. "The JV is 100% locally-owned companies and is well supported by reputable local and international multi-disciplinary technical partners; all with proven track records in their respective field of systems implementation expertise," it said.

The general public are screeching the heads wondering the basis of the tender award. The government is saying that they company will be working with established and experience international organisations to implement the project. The will draw upon the experiences of these organisations.

I wonder what strategies these people in power are thinking about..

But then the results show.. we are well behind Singapore in almost all fields.. That reflect the leadership we are having...

Sarawak Aquatics Center Not Up to Standard

It was reported in the Star on Friday August 24, 2012 that Sarawak State's aquatics centre not up to Olympic standards. The report was made by  YU JI  (yuji@thestar.com.my)

So much for the euphoria and celebration to mark the opening of the RM36mil National Center of Excellence as part of the Youth Sport Complex. It was published as one of the best swimming and diving facilities in this country. Even the Federal Sport Minister was visiting the facilities to give support and get some free publicity.
The center was opened with much a fanfare, for the "great effort of the Federal Government to recognize the mould the local talents". What a anti-climax, they cannot even learn how to build a diving platform, a structure so basic that even an undergraduate would be able to design one, provided he is given the freedom to choose.

It is not UNCOMMON to find building build by Malaysia Federal Government, cracking and cannot be used. The most recent was, the ceiling of a public hospital felled off and injured the hospital workers...see

Serdang Hospital ceiling collapses, four staff injured - Nation | The ...

thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/8/13/nation/...sec...

Aug 13, 2012 ... SERDANG: Three nurses and a female medical officer at the Serdang Hospitals' Emergency Department were injured when 15 ceiling pieces ...

Another well known case was the MRR2 pillars that cracked. 31 out of the 33 pillars needed repair costing million. Although it was clear that it was not caused by nature, the peoples money was used to repair. The inconvenience and traffic delays was causing million MR, but there was no explanation by the contractors, and not even an apology.

Back to the issue in Sarawak.. it seem that they are asking for more of the Federal Funds... remind me of the speech by our PM..." I screeched your back and your screech my back....how much Lu want??"

Tanjung Bin TNB Plants

Malakoff, the biggest IPP (independent power producer) with the net generating capacity of 5020MW was given the contract to construct another 1000MW coal power station at Tanjung Bin in Johor. The contract was quoted priced at RM6.5bil (Starbiz page 6 14 Aug 20120).

Currently, Malakoff operates six Power Generation Plants in Malaysia. They are:
1. Tanjung Bin at Johor - coal fired - 2,100MW
2. Port Dickson            - Gas Turbine - 440MW
3. Kapar in Selangor    - Coal, Oil and Gas
4. GB 3 Perak                                     - 640MW
5. Lumut Perak             - Gas Turbine  - 1303MW
6. PERAI                      - Gas Turbine  - 350MW

The project is scheduled to complete on 2016. Under the secret agreement with the government, Malakoff will be making the generating capability for Tenaga National for 25 years. It is unknown whether the purchase rate is lower or higher than the market value.

KL LRT GEORGE KENT AWAITS

It is reported in the star that the company George Kent is still awaiting the award of the LRT extension "tender".

The paper quoted that the chairman of the company is still awaiting the award of the Ampang LRT extension costing rm960mil. The tender was closed 16 Jun last year. The other bidders were:

- Invensys-Balfour Beatty Rail-Ingress consortium,
- Posco-Sojitz-Daewoo International-Thales group,
- Colas-CMC Engineering-Thales,
- Samsung-LG-Thales,
-SNC Lavalin-WW Engineering-Bombardier,
- Siemens-Scomi Engineering and
- Ansaldo-Emrail-Leighton.


About George Kent.

2007 - It was reported that George Kent pushes forward  banking on its infrastructure investments and manufacturing of water meters to drive future earnings.

GKM is the Malaysian’s oldest and largest manufacturer of water meters. Its current business is divided into manufacturing of meters and non-meter products, infrastructure contracts and investments as well as building services.

2011 - profit before tax rm26 million

white elephants ?

I cannot help but to agree with what is written by Mr Guna segaram in the star on july 2010. I happened to go the the KLIA airport last week to send someone for a flight in the afternoon around 4 pm. I noted that the check in counters were 20% utilized, coupled with the dim lightings of the airports, the place looked so gloomy.

So when Mr Segaram mentioned about the white elephants, then he was right, but may be it is worst, it is the dying white elephant.

Then the news about the MRT. For such a small city like KL, we had uglily odd way of designing our transport system. We had two systems of LRT, the Star and Putra. They were decided during the previous PM, Tun Mahathir, to be managed by separate companies. The logic of why this was done was a certain surprise for even a first year of students of transport economy. Probably the wisdom our ex PM would be able to explain it. However all of them were passed back to tax payers to pay.

I feel sorry for Malaysian..

The extract from the start..

------------------------------
saturday July 24, 2010

Putting the cart before the horse
A QUESTION OF BUSINESS By P. GUNASEGARAM
p.guna@thestar.com.my


THE white elephant that we used to talk about for many years was the KL International Airport (KLIA), built at a reported cost of RM10bil and completed in 1998 at the height of the great Asian recession.

Its pristine, pretty halls and walkways remained empty for years and still are during certain times to this very day. In fact, the low-cost carrier terminal, across from it at the same landing facilities, is a veritable hive of activity compared to the main airport.

Now there are a slew of other projects already in the pipeline and being built which are likely to be ready soon but with no one to supply their services to. And their total cost will eclipse that of the KLIA several times over.

They include the RM30bil-plus double-tracking project (three times the airport cost and the largest single infrastructure project to date), the over RM7bil Bakun dam project in Sarawak, and the estimated RM9bil Pahang-Selangor water transfer project.

There are others but these alone amount to a heart-stopping RM46bil. In contrast, the recent subsidy cuts saved just RM750mil, less than 2% of this figure.

On top of that, we may be rushing into a major mass rapid transit (MRT) system for Kuala Lumpur which could eventually cost as much as RM50bil without first giving proper consideration to the infrastructure and throughput necessary to support such projects.

Add up all the various projects and we are talking about over a massive RM100bil at stake. We need to give proper thought as to how to handle these projects and indeed whether we need any of them in the first place.

It is too late for that as far as the double-tracking project is concerned because the ball has been set rolling. Already, there is enormous wastage, with expensive infrastructure lying idle three years after completion.

According to reports, the KL-Ipoh sector, costing RM6bil, was ready in 2007 but the maiden electric service will start only this year, three years later. But what KTM Bhd is talking about is merely cutting travel time between KL and Ipoh to two hours from over three hours.

Where are the plans for all that cargo that KTM will move by making use of the expensive double-tracking project and the explosion in the number of people who would use the service? Already three years have been wasted for the KL-Ipoh sector.

The entire project is supposed to be completed in two years but we don’t have any idea how this super expensive RM30bil project is going to revolutionise rail transport in the country.

Critics had already pointed out long ago that KTM’s infinitesimal revenue of a mere RM400mil when the project was proposed a few years ago will have to increase many times before it becomes financially viable and that neither the current passenger nor freight throughput warrants such expenditure.

For instance, 8% of RM30bil, the absolute minimum return one should be talking about, is RM2.4bil! KTM’s revenue – not profit, it is making losses – is just one-sixth of that. Under such circumstances it is unacceptable that there is a three-year delay to start the KL-Ipoh service using the spanking new double tracks and electrified system.

Already, the odds are stacked against the double-tracking project being viable by any measurement considering the expense. That will only be exacerbated if proper steps are not taken to utilise the huge capacity – theoretically almost limitless as trains can continue travelling in both directions all the time – which is coming on stream.

As with a lot of infrastructure planning, the double-tracking suffers notoriously because enough effort has not been put into maximising the use of existing facilities before embarking on this massive, premature expansion.

Across the South China Sea, another gargantuan problem is coming up as the Bakun dam is readied to start producing power. This can produce power up to 2400 MW, far in excess of Sarawak’s requirements. In the absence of the undersea cable project to bring the power to the peninsula, there is no one to take the power up when it comes.

Right now, there is no one to take the power. The aluminium smelters are not up (one wonders whether that is the right industry to have but that’s another story) and the federally owned dam is yet to sign a pact to sell power to the Sarawak electric utility.

If you include all costs, including that of delays, etc., the damage might well be over RM10bil instead of the RM7bil now being touted as the figure. What happens if the aluminium plants don’t take off?

And then there is the Pahang-Selangor water transfer project where tunnelling works have already started even before the acquisition and approval of land to build the water treatment plant. What happens if the treatment plant is never built?

We should not make the same mistakes with the proposed MRT project, which is being heavily pushed by the Gamuda-MMC consortium that is eyeing the tunnelling works of some RM12bil. There is no hurry. Take the time to study it. Maximise the existing light rail transit, bus and feeder systems before going for an expensive MRT system. There are many different ways of skinning a cat.

Ditto for other projects.

Before we start building expensive carts, we must absolutely make sure that there are horses to pull them, and goods and people to transport. Otherwise, those bright, shiny conveyances will look nice for a while but will fade and discolour with disuse and neglect.

How long will it take before we know how to manage large projects carefully and stop this unnecessary drain on the country’s precious resources? Imagine what we can be doing with all the money saved.

● Managing editor P. Gunasegaram can only express shock, awe, dismay and disgust at the way we manage some of our large projects.

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.

s

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.

Flood mitigation projects

Flood is probably the only natural disaster in Malaysia. The country is not facing the drought or tornado. So it is natural that efforts are being made to mitigate the effects of the flood.

In the latest global seminar, Aware 2012, the minister announced the plan to implement rm880mil government projects relating to flood mitigation in the country. So far 32 projects are under way, but no details was given by him. Flood hazards maps are being prepared for the following locations:

- Muar

- Kulai

- Kinta

- Selangor

- Muda

- Other area in Kedah

- Pahang

It is noticeable the absence of Kelantan and Terengganu. We know that these two states are more prone to flooding, probably, to give the benefits of the doubt, they are included in the rm880mil project.

The minister also announced that the disaster and its risk elements are the key components in the integrated water resources management. He admitted that in the implementation of the policy ... "in the past has led to fragmented structures and uncoordinated development of management of water". Probably he is taking the challenge and the blame in the same breadth.

What surprise me is the issue of availability of clean and affordable drinking water was not a matter of concern.