KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 1,321 local firms have submitted their interest in participating in the civil works portion of the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project.
Over the course of the pre-qualification exercise held on May 29 and 30, local companies were invited to put their names in the running for a share of the civil works portion of the RM44bil mega-project.
The exercise was open to all experienced local contractors that had a Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) grade of G3 to G7 with a minimum two-star SCORE rating.
"The level of enthusiasm shown by Malaysian construction companies in particular from the G7 CIDB rating companies augurs well with the increase in civil works participation for local contractors from 30% to 40% of the ECRL project as per the inking of the Supplementary Agreement (SA) between MRL and CCCC on 12 April 2019," said project owner Malaysia Rail Link (MRL) in a statement.
According to MRL, it will be working closely with China Communications Construction Company Ltd (CCCC) in shortlisting the 1,321 construction companies to be potential tenderers for the ECRL's civil works packages, whereby successful companies would be notified in writing by the CCCC.
Of the submissions, there was most interest from the G7 category of Construction Industry Development Board-rated companies with 859 submissions, followed by 134 submissions from G5-rated companies and 132 from G4-rated companies.
G3- and G6-rated companies put in 104 and 92 submissions respectively.
Bumiputera engineering and construction companies put in 994 submissions, representing 75.25% of the overall registration.
MRL CEO Datuk Sri Darwis Abdul Razak said local industry players are encouraged to proactively seize any opportunities to participate in the ECRL project as not just contractors but also as suppliers, consultants and in other relevant scopes.
“We also hope that ECRL Project will be an exemplary government project that demonstrates the capabilities of our local contractors to work with an international contractor in carrying out and meeting the high standards of a large-scale infrastructure project.
“With the participation of local contractors, this will not just act as stimulus to the local construction sector but will also serve as a catalyst in the transfer of knowledge and technology in view of the ECRL Project to be among the most challenging engineering and construction projects in Malaysia," he added.
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