‘RAMELI IS KTMB CHAIRMAN’
Ingress veteran to steer national railway company for 3 years, say sources
INGRESS Corp Bhd executive vice-chairman has been appointed Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB) chairman, say sources. It is understood that Datuk Dr Rameli Musa, who was formerly Balfour Beatty Rail (BBRail) Sdn Bhd chairman, had accepted the letter of appointment from the Transport Ministry last week.
He replaces Datuk Nawawi Ahmad, who announced his resignation as the company’s chairman in July last year after Barisan Nasional lost in the 14th General Election in May.
His contract is believed to be for three years, effective February 1.
Rameli, who sits on the board of several private limited companies, was not reachable for comment at press time.
Industry sources said government officials had been trying to get Rameli to accept the offer and lead the national railway company to greater heights following Nawawi’s resignation.
“Rameli is the right candidate. He has the knowledge and expertise in railway matters through BBRail.
“He wears many hats and is definitely the right choice for KTMB. I believe he will spend the first three to six months studying KTMB and do some cleaning up,” said the sources.
In the past, Ingress owned 51 per cent of BBRail, which had been involved in several railway projects such as double-tracking projects in Klang Valley, Rawang to Ipoh and in the north.
In 2011, BBRail secured a RM1 billion contract to implement the rail system package for the Ipoh to Padang Besar doubletracking.
Rameli, who holds a bachelor’s degree in telecommunications engineering and a master’s degree in microwave communications from the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom, started as a lecturer in electronics and microwave telecommunications at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in 1972.
He left in 1975 to work with Pernas NEC Telecommunications Sdn Bhd from 1976 to 1980 before joining Sapura Holdings Sdn Bhd.
Rameli is also the executive chairman of Maju Nusa Sdn Bhd and executive director of Ingress Industrial (Thailand) Public Co Ltd.
He has been the executive vice-chairman and nonindependent executive director of Ingress since October 23 2000. Rameli also served as an executive chairman of Tap Resources Bhd from 1997 to 1998.