HSS Engineers keen to bid for MRT3 and HSR consultancy jobs

KUALA LUMPUR: HSS Engineers Bhd says it will bid and get involved in consultancy jobs for the upcoming mass rapid transit 3 (MRT3) and Kuala Lumpur-Singapore highspeed rail (HSR) projects.

“We are very keen on the MRT3 tenders.

“We can work with the successful bidders for the design and supervision, or we could also work on the independent consulting engineering (ICE) portion,” chief executive officer Datuk Nitchiananthan Balasubramaniam told a press briefing.

“For the HSR, there is the project delivery partner (PDP) bid going on now. We can provide our engineering services, design and supervision with the winning PDP.

“As for the HSR, there is also the ICE portion. We could also bid for this role,” he added.

The company’s order book is at RM430mil, which is anticipated to last from three to five years.

It is tendering for some RM500mil worth of jobs. Its existing major contracts included consulting services for the MRT2, the Sungai Besi– Ulu Kelang Elevated Expressway and the Maju Expressway 2 extension from Putrajaya to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

“The projects we have picked up in 2017 are worth about RM176mil and almost half of that came from the railway supervision deal from the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project, which is about RM82mil.

“For the ECRL, we are involved in the civil, structural and mechanical design,” he said.

He said future contracts could come from engineering consultancy works in the water and wastewater area, where the Government and respective state governments are still heavily subsidising the operations.

“This is quite unsustainable and we are anticipating capital expenditures to be ramped up to replace ageing infrastructure.

“Currently, some 44,000km of pipes are still in asbestos cement form and these have to be changed to galvanised pipes. Asbestos cement water pipes are not only old but can be quite poisonous over time,” Nitchiananthan said.