KUCHING: Iskandar Malaysia Rail Project is a private sector initiative, as opposed to a government-driven project, according to Malaysia Steel Works Bhd’s (Masteel) managing director/chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Sri Tai Hean Leng.
In a statement to the media, Tai reiterated that while the idea has been promoted by Malaysia for over four years, other bidders are not prevented from submitting their bids to the government.
As such, Metropolitan Commuter Network Sdn Bhd (Metropolitan Commuter Network) was not ‘awarded’ the contract by the government.
“In fact, Metropolitan Commuter Network is still undergoing the process of obtaining necessary approvals from various government ministries, and has not been granted full approval to undertake the project,” he said.
Metropolitan Commuter Network is a joint venture company between KUB Malaysia Bhd and Masteel. Funding-wise, Tai said the venture is under the public-private partnership scheme where both parties are funding the venture.
The construction cost only makes up part of the costs with Metropolitan Commuter Network to bear additional investments including expenditure for rolling stock such as trains and other systems.
“Under normal circumstances, the government is responsible to fund all public infrastructure works as it is the owner of the infrastructure.
“In the case of Metropolitan Commuter Network, although all rail infrastructure and stations are owned by the government, the company itself will pay the government RM700 million over an agreed duration for the use of these infrastructure or ‘soft loan’,” he said
Tai added that the funding structure of the RM700 million ‘soft loan’ has yet to be finalised and Metropolitan Commuter Network is in discussion with local and foreign banks to secure the funding.