Scomi still keen on Penang monorail

Scomi still keen on Penang monorail
Published: 2008/09/20

SCOMI Engineering Bhd, a monorail system supplier, is still interested to provide a monorail system for Penang, although the Penang Monorail project has been removed from the Ninth Malaysia Plan.The company is willing to look any city, state or federal government of any country that is considering implementing a monorail system. "We are more than willing to go to the discussion table and see how best we can fit into the requirement," its president, Hilmy Zaini told Bernama recently. Scomi Engineering through a consortium with Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd had put in the bid in the early part of this year for the Penang monorail project.

Among other bidders was Japan's Hitachi.The 52km-monorail, expected to serve as the backbone for the state's public transportation network, was reported to be worth RM1.6 billion. According to Hilmy, the company carried out a thorough feasibility study for the project, including ridership and alignment studies as well as underground mapping. Specific studies had to be taken in order to submit a meaningful bid, he said.The consortium has spent several million ringgit so far, an amount that would have been normally incurred to put in such studies, he said. On the impact of delaying the project, Hilmy said the obvious setback will be the price escalation."When we put in the bid, there was a specific period price validity. That has lapsed now. "Prices as you know, keep increasing. The longer you wait, the more expensive it is going to be."Concrete and steel prices have gone up more or less by 20 per cent. "Of course if there is firm interest again for the Penang monorail, we can do another costing as such," said Hilmy.Asked whether Penangites urgently needed the monorail system, Hilmy said "it was an open secret that they have been asking for such a system for the last 10 years." "What we have found out is that the most optimal system for Penang, at the right price and at the right construction period, is the monorail." - Bernama