KUALA LUMPUR - The tender for a company that will help develop key parts of the high-speed rail linking Singapore and Malaysia has attracted six potential bidders, reported Bernama news agency.
The company, called the assets company (AssetsCo), will be responsible for designing, building, financing and maintaining all rolling stock, as well as designing, building, financing, operating and maintaining all rail assets such as trackwork, power, signalling and telecommunications for the high-speed rail network.
MyHSR Corporation Sdn Bhd, the Malaysian company in charge of developing the high-speed rail project, said the bidders were expected to submit their proposals by June this year.
Another six months will be needed for evaluation, with the winners to be announced by December, Chief Executive Officer Datuk Mohd Nur Ismal Mohamed Kamal told a press conference held in conjunction with the National Supply Chain Conference on Rail Projects on Wednesday (April 11).
"So far, six potential bidders have registered and bought the tender documents, but we cannot tell at this time how many proposals we expect to receive as there might be some mergers.
"But we are hoping all bidders will stay in the race and submit as many proposals as possible, so that we can get the best value," Mohd Nur Ismal said.
He said the six bidders were consortiums from China, Japan, South Korea, and European countries, as well as a group from Singapore and another from Malaysia, reported Bernama.
He noted that the tender was still open and any potential bidder could still submit its bid before the end of June.
On news that the opposition would review the country's mega-projects if it were to win the upcoming general election, he said as far as the HSR project was concerned, Malaysia had signed a bilateral agreement with Singapore.
He said it was a legally binding agreement, which means any cancellation and delay of the project would lead to compensation issues.
Hence, any such situation will not benefit any party, he added.
Mohd Nur Ismal said the mega-project would give multi-fold benefits and should not be aborted, as it was expected to generate RM650 billion in gross national income over 50 years and create 442,000 jobs.
