Two bids received for Phase One of Sarawak Metro’s KUTS Package 1

KUCHING: Sarawak Metro Sdn Bhd (Sarawak Metro) has received two bids for the Kuching Urban Transportation System (KUTS) Project’s System Package 1 tender.

The tender for Phase One of the KUTS Project’s System Package 1 is for the supply of rolling stock (hydrogenpowered Autonomous Rapid Transit (ART) vehicles), depot equipment and maintenance vehicles (DEMV), signalling and control system (S&CS) and automatic platform gate (APG).

One of the bids is from the joint venture company of CRRC (Hong Kong) Co Limited,

CHEC Construction (M) Sdn Bhd and KACC Construction Sdn Bhd.

The other bid is from the joint venture company of EPR (Kuching) Sdn Bhd, Global Rail Sdn Bhd and Mobilus Sdn Bhd.

As a requirement of the tender exercise, each joint venture has to consist of a local Sarawak partner.

The local Sarawak companies in the joint-ventures involved in this tender are KACC Construction Sdn Bhd and EPR (Kuching) Sdn Bhd.

A third joint venture company, which earlier expressed their interest to take part in the tender, however, did not submit a bid by the closing date on March 31.

The contract to the successful bidder is expected to be awarded by the second quarter of this year.

Sarawak Metro, a whollyowned subsidiary of Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC), advertised in both international and national publications in mid2021, calling for companies to register as rolling stock vendor.

Meanwhile, Sarawak Metro will call for tenders for System Package 2 of the KUTS Project (Phase One) by the second quarter of 2022.

This package comprises communication system (COMMS), automatic fare collection (AFC), information technology system (ITS), supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), computerised maintenance management system (CMMS) and operation control centre (OCC).

The development of the KUTS project will be conducted in phases; Phase One will involve the development of two lines, namely the Samarahan Line, which covers a distance of about 28km from Rembus to the city centre, and the Serian Line (24km) from 12th Mile KuchingSerian Expressway to the Isthmus.

The passenger service for the ART will be introduced in stages, starting from the fourth quarter of 2025.