CLAIMS that there is a lack of Bumiputera contractors in the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) are unfounded, Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong said.

There are 81 Bumiputera-majority companies in the railway project as of August 31, whose value of works combined is RM320 million, he said in a statement today.

“This constitutes 10.67% of the entire project’s planned RM3 billion in total Bumiputera participation value.

“It is less than accurate to assert that the participation of Bumiputera contractors in ECRL is ‘non-existent’,” Wee said in his statement, which was posted on Facebook.

He said the 81 Bumiputera companies have passed the pre-qualifying exercise done in 2017 and 2019, and won their contracts competitively through bids with the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning main contractor. 

The companies are 43 contractors, two consultant firms, and 36 vendors and suppliers.

Local companies’ participation in the RM50.3 billion ECRL project, which is led by main developer China Communication Construction (ECRL) Sdn Bhd, is currently RM4.59 billion out of the planned RM10 billion or 45.9% of the project, Wee said.

There are also plans to raise the participation rate of Bumiputera companies in the project from 30% to 32.9% under a supplementary agreement, he said.

“This was a result of a special committee formed in October 2020, chaired by the secretary-general of the Ministry of Transport to oversee the increase in local and Bumiputera participation in the project,” he said.

Wee’s statement is in response to claims made by Pasir Salak MP Tajuddin Abdul Rahman, who alleged that there was too few Bumiputera firms participating in the rail project that connects the peninsula’s west coast to Kota Baru in Kelantan.

Tajuddin kept interrupting Wee and demanding answers while the minister was speaking in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday. – October 7, 2021.