SPNB to call for LRT project tenders by June

STATE-owned public transport operator Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd (SPNB) will call for tenders for Package A of the light rail transit (LRT) line extension in the Klang Valley by end of this month and award the contracts in November.

Package A includes contracts for main civil works for the Kelana Jaya line from the Kelana Jaya station to Summit USJ (9.2km) and for the Ampang line from the Sri Petaling station to Kinrara (7.4km). It also includes sub-contracts for facility works for the supply of segmental box girders for both the lines, SPNB group managing director Datuk Idrose Mohamed said.

Following that, SPNB will call for tenders for 24 sub-contract works to build stations and park & ride facilities for each line.

"We will award the contracts to the most competitive bidders. We have pre-qualified 15 contractors for the main line and 17 sub-contractors for the facilities work," he told a media briefing in Kuala Lumpur yesterday."For the remaining sub-contract works, it will be opened to Class A contractors," Idrose added.

It is learnt that the contracts under Package A are worth some RM3 billion. Idrose declined to comment.The whole LRT extension project is estimated to cost about RM9 billion.Companies like Sunway Construction, IJM Construction, Muhibbah Engineering, MRCB Engineering, Gamuda, Ahmad Zaki, Loh & Loh Construction, MTDC-Persys, Mudajaya Corp Bhd, MMC-Zelan, WCT-Sinohydro, Ranhill-CCCC, UEM Builders-Intria Bina, Zabima-Leighton, Trans Resources Corp and Fajarbaru Builder-Signatium Construction are expected to bid for the main lines.

SPNB had earlier launched a RM4 billion bond programme to finance the initial stages of the project, of which RM2 billion has been drawn down, Idrose said.It has so far awarded sub-contracts worth RM88 million to relocate telecommunications and TNB low voltage (underground) cables.

Idrose said it may launch a second bond programme for Package B, or look for other sources of funding.Contracts for the system work under Package A will be called later when the whole alignment for the Ampang and Kelana Jaya LRT lines, which cover a total of 17.7km and 17km respectively, are approved, Idrose said.

SPNB now has sectional approval of the final railway scheme from the Department of Railways, covering a distance of 12km from the Kelana Jaya station to USJ Subang, while the approval for the Ampang line covers a distance of 15.2km from the Sri Petaling station to Taman Puchong Prima.On talks that the LRT lines may be extended to Kota Damansara, Sungai Buloh and Cheras, Idrose said SPNB has a plan for it and will be ready when there is approval from the government.