Pesona Metro JV bags deal to build Terengganu teaching hospital

KUALA NERUS 18 SEPT 2014: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak checking out the scale model while assisted by after officiating the ground breaking ceremony of the Unisza teaching hospital at the Unisza Gong Badak campus in here zabidi tusin/thestar/kuala terengganu.

KUALA LUMPUR: Pesona Metro Holdings Bhd’s joint venture (JV) with GPQ Sdn Bhd and Semarak Korporat Sdn Bhd has won a RM313.85mil contract to build Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin’s (UniSZA) teaching hospital in Terengganu.

The construction firm told Bursa Malaysia on Monday that an unincorporated JV by its unit Pesona Metro Sdn Bhd and the two other companies accepted a letter of acceptance from GPQ, which is a subsidiary of Terengganu government’s investment arm Terengganu Inc Sdn Bhd.

Pesona Metro did not mention the stake it holds in the JV.

It said the project’s duration was 182 weeks from the date of the possession of the site, which was Monday.

This is the second hospital project clinched by Pesona Metro this year. In January, the same subsidiary accepted a letter of award for main building works from Pantai Hospital Ayer Keroh - a branch of Pantai Medical Centre Sdn Bhd - valued at RM26.7mil,

The groundbreaking ceremony of the UniSZA teaching hospital had been held in Gong Badak in September 2014. It was then reported that up to RM350mil was allocated for the development of the hospital’s first phase of 200 beds.

It was also reported that the RM600mil hospital was due to be completed by the end of 2017. Terengganu was identified as one of the states where the ratio of hospital beds to the population was below the national average and the World Health Organisation’s recommendation.

Last month, renowned neurosurgeon Prof Datuk Dr Ahmad Zubaidi A. Latif was appointed as the UniSZA vice-chancellor. He has served for over 30 years at healthcare institutions such as the Kuala Terengganu Hospital, Kemaman District Hospital and Universiti Malaya Medical Centre.