Tender for second segment of Penang Mutiara LRT line project yet to be awarded, says CM

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GEORGE TOWN, Oct 21 — The tender process for segment two of the Penang Mutiara LRT line project is yet to be awarded, according to Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.

He said the first segment of the project, which is for civil engineering works from Silicon Island to Komtar and Macallum, was awarded to SRS Consortium under direct negotiations due to contractual obligations of the contractor with the state government.

“Tender was called for the second segment which is for works from Macallum to Penang Sentral and it is understood that Gamuda had also submitted a bid for it,” he said in a press conference at his office today.

When asked if Gamuda had withdrawn from the tender, Chow said the state was not officially informed about it.

“I only read about it, actually, they do not have to inform us about this,”

“What I read was they withdrew from the tender process for the second segment because they wanted to focus on the existing project that they have, which is the first segment,” he added.

Chow said it is good for the state that Gamuda will be focusing more on the first segment as it involved traffic management issues when works are in full swing which is very important.

“Maybe it’s also why they decided to withdraw and I feel this will not affect their performance in implementing the first segment,” he said.

He believed it might also improve their performance as they would be focused on the first segment.

It was reported recently in Sin Chew Daily that Gamuda may be withdrawing from bidding for the second segment of the project with a contract value of RM8 billion to focus on its existing RM38 billion contract for the first segment.

It was also reported that MRCB, YTL Corporation and Sunway Construction have expressed interests to bid for the project.

Chow said the project owner, MRT Corporation, is still evaluating tenders submitted for the segment two of the project.

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