MMC-Gamuda wins RM8.2b MRT tunnelling job

MMC-Gamuda wins RM8.2b MRT tunnelling job
UPDATED @ 04:51:37 PM 21-03-2012
March 20, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 - The MMC-Gamuda joint venture unsurprisingly won the tunnelling job for the My Rapid Transit (MRT) line between Sungai Buloh and Kajang with its bid of RM8.2 billion, project owner MRT Corp announced today.

MMC-Gamuda is also the project delivery partner (PDP) to run the construction of the 51km line, which is the country's largest infrastructure project and still without a total budget.

"The decision was made at a One Stop Procurement Committee (OSPC) meeting chaired by the Prime Minister, YAB Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Razak at Parliament yesterday," MRT Corp said in a statement today.

MRT Corp said MMC-Gamuda JV was chosen due to its expertise and experience in a similar project, the Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel (SMART) project.

"The consortium also offered the most competitive price at RM8.2 billion to design and build the 9.5km MRT underground tunnel and seven underground stations," it added, saying works for the underground package will be directly supervised by MRT Corp.

The statement said MMC-Gamuda was one of five companies or joint ventures which pre-qualified for the job. The other tenderers were Hyundai-Gadang-Chengal Jaya Joint Venture, Taisei Corp, Sinohydro Group Ltd, and the China Railway Group Ltd. Only three out of the five passed the technical evaluation stage.

"The final evaluation showed that MMC-Gamuda JV was the best evaluated tenderer that offered the technical criteria and the best bid which was 3.4 per cent lower than the second lowest offer," MRT Corp said.

“We are committed towards ensuring the success of the MRT project and the award shows that the MRT construction work is gaining momentum as we strive to deliver the project within the targeted time and cost,”

“The tunnelling works will require underground work at an unprecedented scale. It is the single largest package of the MRT that makes up 30 to 40 per cent out of the total project cost. The award of the underground package will create numerous job opportunities within Malaysia,” MRT Corp chief executive officer Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid said in the statement.

Under MMC-Gamuda’s PDP deal with the government, the consortium will receive a fee of six per cent of all packages tendered out for work on the MRT’s Sungai Buloh-Kajang line.

According to a Bursa Malaysia filing made by Gamuda Bhd on recently, the MRT’s target cost, comprises the value of all awarded works packages, a 15 per cent contingency amount and reimbursables to MMC-Gamuda.

The MRT, meant to ease traffic congestion in the Klang Valley, is Malaysia's largest and most expensive infrastructure project to date.

Construction of the Sungai Buloh-Kajang line will begin in the second or third quarter of this year and is scheduled to be completed by end-2016, with services commencing in January 2017. There are a total of 31 stations for the line.

Critics have said MMC-Gamuda, a joint venture between leading infrastructure group Gamuda Bhd and MMC Corp Bhd, would have the edge over other bidders in bagging the prized tunnelling portion for the MRT due to its role as project delivery partner.

MMC-Gamuda is also the contractor for the RM12.5 billion electrified double-tracking Ipoh-Padang Besar rail project.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/business/article/mmc-gamuda-wins-rm8.2b-mrt-tunneling-job