George Kent tight-lipped on award for Ampang LRT extension RM960mil contract (3204)

PETALING JAYA: George Kent (M) Bhd, a company specialising in mechanical and engineering work mostly in water infrastructure, has opted to stay mum on whether it has been awarded the contract for the extension of the RM960mil Ampang Light Rail Transit (LRT) project.

The company declined to comment on the matter to StarBiz, with a spokesman saying that there had been many enquiries on the Ampang LRT project since Parti Keadilan Rakyat's strategic director Rafizi Ramli alleged that the company had been awarded the deal by the Finance Ministry.

Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd (SPNB) allegedly issued a letter of intent for the project to a consortium in which George Kent was involved.

Both SPNB and George Kent have so far refused to comment on the matter.

Besides the company, the consortium included China Railway Construction Corp and Tewet GmbH, a project consultant firm.

Controversy on the matter broke in late June when it was reported that George Kent 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 bid for it, including the Invensys-Balfour Beatty Rail-Ingress consortium, which was reported to be the front runner in securing the extension project.

The George Kent consortium had one of the highest bids, at RM1.13bil. The contract for the project was to be awarded in the second quarter but now has been postponed to the present quarter with the tender in its final stages.

It was also reported that the company was unsuitable fit for the job as it did not fulfil the project's financial and technical requirements, which involved new rail works and an upgrade of the all important communications and signalling system for the entire rail network.

The company's cash and bank balances for the financial year ended Jan 31 totalled RM59.57mil.

To date, the company has an order book of RM221mil worth of water infrastructure projects. Besides these projects, George Kent completed the construction of a RM97.75mil government hospital block in Kuala Lipis.

“George Kent is planning to have a post AGM media conference, barring unforeseen circumstances,” the spokesman said in an e-mail reply.

Observers anticipate a record turn out at the company's post-AGM briefing with the media tomorrow, particularly from the online news websites, which have gone to town with the story.

It is to be hoped that George Kent chairman and major shareholder Tan Sri Tan Kay Hock would be able to shed some light on the project and the controversies surrounding it at the briefing tomorrow.