Ingress hopes for speedier award of RM960mil Ampang rail project (7112)

SUBANG: Ingress Corp Bhd is hopeful that the Government will speed up the process of awarding the contract for the extension of the RM960mil Ampang light rail transit project.

“We have not heard anything from Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd. Yes, our tender is still valid. This is one of the most difficult jobs we have come across in a while. It will be good if we get it.

“Even if we don't, it won't impact us much,” Ingress executive vice-chairman and executive director Datuk Rameli Musa told reporters after the company's AGM yesterday.

For this project, Ingress is in a consortium with Balfour Beatty Rail and Invensys in bidding for the job. It has been rumoured to be a strong frontrunner until controversy broke in late June when it was reported that George Kent (M) Bhd would likely emerge as the winner for the Ampang LRT extension.

The tender for the LRT extension project closed on June 16 last year. Eight groups had submitted bids, with bids ranging from RM950mil to RM1.45bil.

Meanwhile, on Ingress' immediate expansion plans for its autoparts business, Rameli said the company would be spending capital expenditure worth some RM2.5mil for Malaysia, RM28mil for Indonesia and RM7mil for Thailand.

Its Indonesian factory will double in capacity by month-end from its current 80,000 car sets per year.

Its new Mini Cooper showroom in Bangsar will also be opened for operations beginning September 1.

For the Indonesian plant, Ingress is using funds from its private placement completed in March this year, where it raised some RM7.6mil.

Ingress is partnering Katayama Kogyo Co Ltd and Yonei Co Ltd, which have a 25% stake and 10% stake respectively in the joint venture company, PT Ingress Malindo Ventures for its Indonesian venture.

Ingress is also looking to penetrate the Indian market which has a total industry volume (TIV) of some three million.

Ingress has a 40% stake in the joint venture company Ingress Mayur Auto Ventures Private Ltd. Currently it has two clients there, Fiat and Suzuki.

“We are looking for a partner for the Hyundai brand in entering India.

“We are currently in talks with Woo Young Private Ltd. We are also in talks with our Japanese partner, Katayama and Yonei to be our partners for the Japanese brands in India,” said Rameli.

Meanwhile, Rameli expects the Thai market to be the most lucrative this year, partially due to the pent up demand resulting from the floods last year.

Thailand recorded a total TIV of 1.05 million units last year, and this is expected to increase to two million this year.

Last year, Ingress' plant in the High Tech Industrial Estate of Ayutthaya, which produces components solely for Honda Thailand, was inundated with massive floods and operations had to be halted. Among the products produced are components for Honda Civic, City, Jazz and Accord.

After damage assessment it was determined that the machines were beyond repair and a total loss claim of 479 million baht (RM47.1mil) was submitted to the insurer. Of this, 300 million baht (RM29.4mil) of interim payment had been received.

“We have now shifted all our operations to our Rayong plant, with the Ayutthaya plant only as a warehousing area.

“Until the government of Thailand constructs more protection around the Ayutthaya area, we will be maintaining our operations in the Rayong plant. This could be for one to two years,” said Rameli.

He added that as the Rayong plant was 200km further, this would incur additional transportation cost of approximately RM4mil a year, based on the eight deliveries it does in a day.

“We are looking at ways to reduce this cost. In the mean time, we have been looking at additional businesses. We have received one to two business proposals on businesses that do not involve capital expenditure and is related to the auto parts business. We are considering it,” said Rameli.

As for its energy division, Ingress currently has jobs in hand worth some RM363.4mil.