By Sharen Kaur
sharen@nstp.com.my
Published in NST on August 9, 2012
KUALA LUMPUR: SYARIKAT Prasarana Negara Bhd said it will give its full cooperation to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) regarding investigations on British engineering firm, Halcrow.
Halcrow was appointed as an independent evaluator by Prasarana to assess the capabilities of the eight groups which had bid for the systems contract for the Ampang light rail transit (LRT) line extension project.
The British group is under investigation by MACC on the integrity of its evaluation process in assessing the capabilities of the bidders to undertake the job.
This includes the George Kent (M) Bhd-Lion Pacific Sdn Bhd joint venture.
The report card of the bidders has been politicised by PKR's director of strategy Rafizi Ramli.
On July 3, Rafizi disclosed details of the Halcrow technical report which was critical of George Kent. He questioned the award of the systems contract to the company.
Meanwhile, the police have started separate investigations and are probing how the documents were leaked under the Official Secrets Act.
Prasarana officials have been interviewed on this matter.
Prasarana issued a statement saying that the leaked detailsof the Halcrow report did not give the public a full picture of the entire tender and award process.
It said dated selective excerpts were superseded by new information resulting from the clarifications.
Halcrow is also being investigated on the potential conflict of interest with UK's Balfour Beatty Inc, which owns 70 per cent of Balfour Beatty Rail (BBRail) Sdn Bhd.
BBRail is one of the eight bidders. Its consortium partners are UK's Invensys Inc and Ingress Bhd.
Based on reports, Halcrow had prior working relationship with Balfour Beatty.
Both companies were part of a consortium that won a STG35 million (RM169 million) project in Wales. They also jointly bid for a project in the Jebel Ali Free Trade Zone.
"It is improper for us to make public comments at this stage as the matter is still under investigation by MACC," Prasaranasaid in an email reply to Business Times.
Prasarana also said that the investigations would not effect the award on other pending projects by the company.
"We can confirm that all except one particular work package have already been awarded under the LRT extension project. The contract for access card had yet to be tendered out," the company said.
Halcrow was appointed as an independent evaluator by Prasarana to assess the capabilities of the eight groups which had bid for the systems contract for the Ampang light rail transit (LRT) line extension project.
The British group is under investigation by MACC on the integrity of its evaluation process in assessing the capabilities of the bidders to undertake the job.
This includes the George Kent (M) Bhd-Lion Pacific Sdn Bhd joint venture.
The report card of the bidders has been politicised by PKR's director of strategy Rafizi Ramli.
On July 3, Rafizi disclosed details of the Halcrow technical report which was critical of George Kent. He questioned the award of the systems contract to the company.
Meanwhile, the police have started separate investigations and are probing how the documents were leaked under the Official Secrets Act.
Prasarana officials have been interviewed on this matter.
Prasarana issued a statement saying that the leaked detailsof the Halcrow report did not give the public a full picture of the entire tender and award process.
It said dated selective excerpts were superseded by new information resulting from the clarifications.
Halcrow is also being investigated on the potential conflict of interest with UK's Balfour Beatty Inc, which owns 70 per cent of Balfour Beatty Rail (BBRail) Sdn Bhd.
BBRail is one of the eight bidders. Its consortium partners are UK's Invensys Inc and Ingress Bhd.
Based on reports, Halcrow had prior working relationship with Balfour Beatty.
Both companies were part of a consortium that won a STG35 million (RM169 million) project in Wales. They also jointly bid for a project in the Jebel Ali Free Trade Zone.
"It is improper for us to make public comments at this stage as the matter is still under investigation by MACC," Prasaranasaid in an email reply to Business Times.
Prasarana also said that the investigations would not effect the award on other pending projects by the company.
"We can confirm that all except one particular work package have already been awarded under the LRT extension project. The contract for access card had yet to be tendered out," the company said.
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