Putrajaya contracts Gemas-JB double-track to Chinese firm
(The Malaysian Insider) – Putrajaya has agreed to award the Chinese Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) a multi-billion ringgit contract to build the 197-km Gemas-Johor Baru electrified double tracking project (EDTP), instead of front-runner China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC), sources say.
The Malaysian Insider understands the project is worth between RM7 and RM8 billion, after it was put under a mid-term review in the Ninth Malaysia Plan. The Gemas-Johor Baru sector would be the final package for the EDTP, with the other sectors being the Ipoh-Padang Besar and Seremban-Gemas lines.
“Putrajaya has decided on China Road and Bridge Corporation after some last-minute lobbying,” a source told The Malaysian Insider.
Another source said the award could be a wrinkle in Putrajaya-Beijing ties as only CRCC is authorised to tender for rail-related projects abroad. “The decision has been made and will be announced very soon,” the source disclosed.
Putrajaya and Beijing maintain very good political and business ties, with China taking palm oil and other commodities apart from a flow of goods being traded under the Asean-China Free Trade Agreement (FTA). However, the Penang Second Bridge project has not drawn down a US$800 million soft loan from Beijing while Putrajaya has also rejected a Chinese firm’s US$1 billion (RM3.1 billion) redevelopment bid for the Pudu Jail land.
But the Gemas-Johor Baru EDTP has always been seen as a project for Chinese companies, the sources said.
The project includes building nearly 200km of parallel railway tracks, including stations, depots, halts, yards and bridges and cover systems such as electrification, signalling and communications. This includes a realignment between Pulau Sebang, Melaka and the Gemas section.
Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha said in July that the Gemas-Johor Baru stretch was already in the final stage of design but declined to state if the tender would be open to foreign parties when it is completed by end of the year.
