HSS Engineers participates in tenders for water projects

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KUCHING: Engineering and project management consultant HSS Engineers Bhd (HSS Engineers), through its subsidiary SMHB Engineering, is participating in recently released tenders for water infrastructure projects in East Malaysia, in order to boost its order book exceeding RM500 million as at June 30, 2019.

With water shortage an issue, Sabah and Sarawak state governments have already announced plans to address the agenda. Among the initiatives is the Sarawak Water Grid Project, whereby the state government is looking to improve upon water supply services, especially towards rural areas.

HSS Engineers executive vice chairman Tan Sri Kuna Sittampalam said: “With the increasing concern over water supply in the country, the necessary plans are now being implemented by various authorities such as the Ministry of Water, Land and Natural Resources (KATS), Suruhanjaya Pengurusan Air Negara (SPAN), Pengurusan Aset Air Berhad (PAAB) and various state governments to ensure sustainable and constant supply of water.

“Major capital works projects are being tendered out in Sabah and Sarawak, and we expect other states to follow suit, especially those with water-deficits such as Pulau Pinang, Johor, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka and Selangor.”

As a key player in the water industry for more than 55 years, HEB Group, through our subsidiary SMHB Engineering is well positioned to jump on the bandwagon when water infrastructure projects are announced.

Further to this, the Group will be participating in various flood mitigation tenders recently issued by Jabatan Pengairan and Saliran.

“The group is also looking to diversify its revenue stream by building recurring and long term income based contracts which would involve equity investments as well as venturing into operational and maintenance based contracts,” the executive vice chairman added.

“On top of that, we will continue to seize growth opportunities in the infrastructure space in the Southeast Asian region particularly Indonesia and Philippines as well as India.”

KATS had also recently called for tenders for non-revenue water (NRW) works, mainly consisting of pipe replacement, bulk and consumer meter replacements and reservoir/storage repair and replacement. This is part of the national plan to reduce NRW to 31 per cent by 2020, with possible capital expenditure of RM800 million to RM1 billion per year set planned.

SPAN, the national water regulator has already taken steps to increase water tariffs in 2019 following the announcement by KATS. This will allow full cost recovery for provision of water supply services.

At this juncture, PAAB has already consolidated 8 out of 11 states in Peninsular Malaysia, with negotiations ongoing with other states to acquire their water assets. The migrated states have already seen capital injection towards capital works for construction of new intakes, water treatment plants, distribution systems and pipe replacement works.