Transport Ministry: 81 bumiputra companies involved in ECRL project as of end August

PETALING JAYA: A total of 81 bumiputra-controlled companies have participated in the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project as of August 2021, says the Transport Ministry.

In a Facebook post on Thursday (Oct 7), the Transport Ministry said Pasir Salak MP Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman's contention in Parliament on Oct 5, where he claimed that bumiputra participation was "non-existent", is inaccurate.

"As of Aug 31, 2021, 81 bumiputra-majority companies have participated in the project with a value of RM320mil. This constitutes 10.67% of the entire project’s planned RM3bil in total bumiputra participation value.

"This fact should be seen in the context of the RM50.3bil project’s progress as informed by the Minister (Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong) in Parliament Wednesday (Oct 6), which currently stands at 23.96% as of Aug 31.

"These 81 bumiputra companies have successfully passed the pre-qualifying exercise done in 2017 and 2019, and won their contracts competitively through bids with the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) main contractor.

"They include 43 contractors, two consulting firms, and 36 vendors and suppliers. As a whole, the total local participation rate of the ECRL has a value of RM4.59bil from a planned total of RM10bil (45.9%), with 1,368 companies participating," it said.

MOT said under Supplementary Agreement No. 6, the effective participation rate of bumiputra companies in ECRL will be raised from 30% to 32.9%, which it argued is a commendable commitment by the main EPCC contractor to raise the percentage of local and bumiputra participation in the project.

This was a result of a special committee formed in October 2020 chaired by the secretary-general of the Transport Ministry to oversee the increase of local and bumiputra participation in the project.

As a whole, the Ministry aims to develop and raise the capabilities of local companies so that they would be able to compete equally in mega projects such as ECRL, which are catalysts for future growth for the nation," it said.