THE Light Rail Transit Line 3 (LRT3) project’s main contractor, MRCB-George Kent, is facing pressure from a high-ranking officer in Prasarana Malaysia Bhd over the appointment of sub-contractors, reports The Malaysian Reserve.    

The report, quoting sources, said the officer had asked MRCB-George Kent to award a work package to a particular firm which is politically linked to the senior official in Prasarana.

However, MRCB-George Kent refused to give in to the demand.

“The package involved works worth some RM300 million, which MRCB-George Kent already has its contractors to work on, but there was interference from Prasarana asking the contractor be given to another firm, which is wrong because MRCB-George Kent was appointed as the turnkey contractor,” the source said.

“It means Prasarana could not dictate who MRCB-George Kent should give the project to. Failing to do so, Prasarana has delayed progress payments to MRCB-George Kent amounting to RM100 million.”

The issue could also lead to further delays in the completion of the project.

While the source refused to name the personnel or the company involved, the issue caused a “big clash” among Prasarana’s management.

This eventually led to Prasarana’s president and group CEO Muhammad Nizam Alias going on “temporary leave” as of last month.

Nizam was suspended from his duty over undisclosed reasons.

MRCB-George Kent is a 50-50 joint venture (JV) of Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd and George Kent (M) Bhd. The JV entity is the turnkey contractor of the project while Prasarana owns the project.

The LRT3 project, which started in August 2015 with an initial budget of RM10 billion, saw its cost escalate to RM31.65 billion.

The Pakatan Harapan government then reviewed it and allowed it to resume with its cost brought down by 47% to RM16.63 billion.

The project-delivery partner model was replaced with the turnkey model.

The completion date has been extended from 2020 to 2024. – December 16, 2020.