The Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia (MCCM) has urged the government to hand over the entire multi-billion ringgit Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project to it because bumiputera companies are failing to win tenders related to the project.

According to Bernama , MCCM president Syed Ali Alatas said the bid conditions set by project manager Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd (Prasarana) were a major obstacle for bumiputera companies.

NONE Such conditions include a caveat preventing successful bidders from teaming up with other companies and having a paid-up capital of at least RM10 million.

Syed Ali said that such conditions meant that only 37 out of 16,000 members of the Malay Contractors’ Association of Malaysia (MCAM) would qualify for the bidding of Malaysia’s costliest ever infrastructure project.

He said MCCM was capable of undertaking the project by collaborating with other groups representing contractors.

“We’ll implement the whole project in collaboration with other contractors’ associations on a joint-venture basis or by acquiring the companies involved in the massive project,” he was reported as saying.

Prasarana must not leave out bumi contractors

Syed Ali said this at a press conference today, after receiving feedback on the MRT project from MCCM members.

The eventual cost of the MRT project is unknown, but the first phase will cost RM36 billion. This package has been awarded to MMC-Gamuda Joint Venture Sdn Bhd.

NONE MCAM president Mokhtar Samad said the conditions imposed by Prasarana must be reviewed by the government.

“We are now holding on to the assurance given by Prasarana group managing director Shahril Mokhtar that bumiputera contractors will not be left out of the massive development project,” he added.

On April 23, Shahril had said that there were equal chances for all firms to bid for MRT-related contracts, provided they meet the pre-qualification criteria set by the government.

Bumi firms pressuring Najib

He said Prasarana was only looking for “genuine, competent and suitably qualified” bumiputera and non-bumiputera contractors.

“The pre-qualification (PQ) criteria are not overly stringent and enable many experienced contractors to qualify on their own, without entering into joint ventures with others,” he said in a statement.

On April 26, Malay rights pressure group Perkasa, the Federation of Bumiputera Economic Bodies (Gabem) and Gabungan Kontraktor Bumiputera Wibawa Malaysia submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to protest against the MRT bidding conditions which they said were unfair.

The Najib administration is facing increasing pressure from bumiputera business groups who are resistant to his New Economic Model, over fears that meritocracy and laissez-faire pursuits would be detrimental to their interests.

However, the Najib administration is arguing that true competition must be encouraged in order to fulfil its goals of creating a high-income economy.