Give locals a chance to shine in the ECRL project

THE Minority Business Chamber (MBC) would like to congratulate the government of Malaysia, Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd and China Communications Construction Company Ltd for signing a supplementary agreement for the resumption of the suspended East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project, and for identifying measures to bring down construction costs.

We are pleased that this reduction and saving will benefit the people of the nation and lighten the burden of the country’s financial position.

However, we hope that the supplementary agreement, which covers the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning aspects of the ECRL, includes and gives equal opportunity to Malaysian contractors and supplier companies, especially local companies from within the minority communities.

The ECRL project should yield a greater benefit to the rakyat by contributing towards job creation and local supply chains, thus enhancing the national economy.

All locals should be given a chance to shine or enhance their experience with such a large scale project. We hope that cronies of the previous government with false track records will not even be considered for this project, thus giving a real chance to thousands of real contractors out there.

The MBC is willing to lend our expertise and assistance to the government in talks about the due diligence and selection process of contractors and suppliers to ensure that locals of the involved states benefit both directly and indirectly.

The MBC would be glad to submit a list of qualified minority contractors to the government so that they can be given a fair chance.