By S. Ashwiinie
Pengurusan Aset Air Bhd (PAAB) has submitted its recommended bid, which is one of three, for the RM1.2 billion Langat 2 water treatment plant, to the Ministry of Finance (MoF), sources say.
PAAB’s board is understood to have met up earlier this week and sent the recommendations to the MoF to deliberate.
It is understood that two of the bids are from Gamuda Bhd while the other is from a consortium made up of MMC Corp Bhd, Salcon Bhd and Ahmad Zaki Resources Bhd (AZRB).
Ahmad Faizal Abdul Rahman
However it is unlikely that the MoF will announce the winner prior to the general elections. The final bidders were tight lipped as they are bound by confidentiality agreements. PAAB’s CEO, Ahmad Faizal Abdul Rahman did not respond to KiniBiz as well.
“It’s neck-and-neck between Gamuda and the MMC consortium…While Gamuda’s bid is slightly lower, MMC consortium’s total savings is better,” the source said.
Gamuda is known for having water treatment plant construction expertise having built the Sungai Selangor Water Treatment Plant Phase 3. Gamuda also has a 30 percent stake in Syarikat Pengeluar Air Selangor Holdings Bhd (Splash).
Salcon meanwhile has water treatment concessions in China and Sri Lanka among others, while its partner MMC Corp controls Aliran Ihsan Resources Bhd which in turn controls Southern Water Corp Sdn Bhd which treats water in Johor. AZRB is a well-known construction company and has built quite a few dams in the East coast states.
Other than the two companies just mentioned, IJM Corp Bhd, UEM Construction Sdn Bhd and privately held Asia Baru Construction Sdn Bhd, had all been shortlisted from the first round of 13 companies which tendered for the job.
The RM1.2 billion contract for the treatment plant is a part of the larger RM8 billion Pahang-Selangor interstate water transfer project, where water from a dam in Pahang is pumped through a tunnel which cuts through the Titiwangsa mountain range and is treated in Selangor, before being distributed.
According to analysts, the Selangor portion with the treatment plant, reservoir, and related piping and ancillary systems comes to about RM3.7 billion to RM4 billion.
In Pahang the cost for dam, the pup house and tunnel through the mountain range is expected to be between RM3 billion and RM4 billion. The RM1.3 billion tunnelling project was secured by IJM Corp, and UEM partnering two Japanese companies, Shimizu Corp and Nishimatsu Construction Co.
Interestingly enough Gamuda and MMC are companies known to work together, and are involved in the building of the RM12.5 billion northern portion of the double tracking railway line—spanning Ipoh to Padang Besar via equal shareholding in MMC-Gamuda Joint Venture Sdn Bhd, and equally own the MMC Gamuda KVMRT (PDP) Sdn Bhd, the company which is the master developer of the RM50 billion Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit system.
Both Gamuda and MMC had also jointly built the RM2 billion SMART Tunnel which is a flood mitigation system and road tunnel as well.
MMC is controlled by low key businessman Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, while Gamuda’s shareholding is fragmented with Permodalan Nasional Bhd controlling about 8.29 percent, Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) with 7.7 percent and Generasi Setia owned by the Perak state royal family holding 6.3 percent equity interest.
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