UEM Group to develop 40 more bumi vendors in four years

KUALA LUMPUR, 16 Feb -- Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak (dua, kiri) menerima cenderahati daripada Pengerusi Kumpulan UEM Berhad Tan Sri Dr Ahmad Tajuddin Ali (tiga, kanan) pada pada majlis Jamuan Makan Malam Penghargaan dan Sambutan Ulang Tahun ke-50 UEM, hari ini. -- fotoBERNAMA (2017) HAK CIPTA TERPELIHARA

KUALA LUMPUR: UEM Group Bhd has pledged to develop 40 more bumiputra vendors between 2017 to 2020 in addition to its current 51 as part of the Bumiputra Vendor Development Programme it signed with International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti).

Speaking at its 50th anniversary stakeholders appreciation dinner on Thursday, UEM Group chairman Tan Sri Ahmad Tajuddin Ali said it had awarded more than RM5bil worth of contracts to bumiputra vendors from 2011 to 2016.

UEM Group aims to grow the bumiputra vendors’ expertise in the higher value facets of the supply chain through its four core businesses, namely expressways (PLUS Malaysia Bhd and PLUS Expressways International Bhd); township & property development (UEM Sunrise Bhd); engineering & construction (UEM Builders Bhd and Cement Industries of Malaysia Bhd); and asset & facility management (UEM Edgenta Bhd).

“We don’t only provide business opportunities to these vendors but we also hold them to the highest standards of performance such as Business Excellence initiative, thus creating truly global players. The results are already starting to show with three bumiputra companies under our guidance recently making it to the final round of the Industry Excellence Awards organised by Miti,” he said.
 
The three companies are Primelux Energy Sdn Bhd, MKRS Bumi (M) Sdn Bhd, and Medical Apparatus Supplies Sdn Bhd.

On UEM Group’s operations, group managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Izzaddin Idris said moving forward, there were areas which the company would expand into but it would still focus on its four core businesses.
 
While the UEM Group will continue to tap into the vast opportunities available in Malaysia, it will also be expanding its overseas presence in neighbouring countries.
 
“Indonesia is a country where infrastructure is in demand and highways being one of them. Following the opening of our 116km Cikopo-Palimanan toll road in Indonesia in June 2015, we have developed and proposed new alignments to the Government of Indonesia as well as participated in several of their tenders,” he said, reiterating what he had told a press conference in March last year.

“In addition, we have been approached by several interested parties to jointly developed new highways – proposals which we are currently evaluating.”

Meanwhile, Bernama reported that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who attended UEM Group’s dinner, said Malaysian construction firms must work towards becoming regional and global construction and engineering giants.

Najib said this was to ensure that they could compete with other leading construction firms like Bechtel of the US, Hyundai and Daewoo of South Korea, Skanska of Sweden and JGC of Japan.