George Kent wins Ampang LRT job (3204)

George Kent Bhd, a company specialising in mechanical and engineering work, has won a contract for the Ampang light rail transit (LRT)extension line project.

The contract awarded by Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd is for
engineering, procurement, construction, testing and com missioning of system works for the Ampang LRT line.

This confirms a Business Times report last month which stated that a George Kent led joint venture is tipped to win the job, reportedly worth about RM960 million.

George Kent's joint venture partner for the contract is privately owned Lion Pacific Sdn Bhd, which holds a PKK (Pusat Khidmat Kontractor) and CIDB licence for track work.

Established in 1936, George Kent, which prides itself as a leader in mechanical and electrical engineering posted a pre-tax profit of RM26.2 million on revenue of RM152.3 million for fiscal 2011.

The stock closed three sen higher yesterday at RM1.03.

Prasarana is the project and asset owner for the LRT line extension project.

According to Prasarana, the George Kent-Lion Pacific joint venture will be supported by local and international technical partners with proven track records in their respective field of systems implementation expertise.

Business Times understands that they may include French-group
Thales, China Railway Construction Corp and Tewet GmbH, a project management consultant company.

Prasarana said some of the key sub-systems proposed by the joint
venture and their partners have synergy with Prasarana's current
operations.

"In the long run, Prasarana will benefit from reduced operating
expenditures and cross-competency gains that will in crease service efficiencies," it said in a statement yesterday.

Prasarana said with the award of the latest contract, it has awarded most of the packages under the Ampang LRT line ex tension.

The remaining contracts to be awarded are for access card system, which has yet to be tendered out.

Prasarana also maintained that the construction cost for the entire LRT extension project is below the original budgeted cost of RM7 billion.