Monday, July 23, 2012

George Kent: LRT job still under evaluation

By Sharen Kaur
sharen@nstp.com.my
Published in NST on July 19, 2012


PUCHONG: THE major shareholder of George Kent (M) Bhd is keeping mum on whether political pressures will derail its chance to win a RM960 million systems contract for the Ampang light rail transit (LRT) project.

"We are a business group ... we don't talk about politics. I am not a politician. Just wait. Once it is awarded, we will make a statement," George Kent chairman Tan Sri Tan Kay Hock said.

"The LRT contract is still under evaluation. It may come to us, it may not come to us," Tan told reporters after the company's shareholders' meeting yesterday.

Business Times reported last month that a consortium led by George Kent, a mechanical and engineering specialist, was tipped to win the systems contract for the Ampang LRT line extension.

Other members of the consortium include China Railway Construction Corp and Tewet GmbH, a project management consultant firm.

The systems contract was to be awarded by June this year.

Tenders closed on June 16 and eight groups had made the bids.

The two other frontrunners for the job were the Invensys-Balfour Beatty Rail-Ingress consortium, and Posco-Sojitz-Daewoo International-Thales.

Following a Business Times report, Parti Keadilan Rakyat's strategic director Rafizi Ramli alleged that George Kent had been awarded the systems contract by the Finance Ministry.

It was reported that George Kent was unsuitable fit for the job as it did not fulfil the project's financial and technical requirements, which involved new rail works and an upgrade of all important communications and signalling system for the entire rail network.

George Kent's cash and bank balances for the financial year ended January 31 2012 were RM59.6 million.

According to its annual report, the major shareholders of the company are Tan and his wife, with a combined direct and indirect stake of about 70 per cent.

Prasarana group managing director Datuk Shahril Mokhtar had said at the signing of a joint-venture agreement between the company and Naza TTDI Sdn Bhd that the systems contract would be awarded "real soon".





1 comment:

  1. To follow project technical and financial requirement, one should maintain a business statistic report to implement new things..




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