3rd least competent & not lowest bid: BUT Najib says George Kent LRT award FAIR

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 27 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today came to the defence of construction company George Kent, saying it had passed technical evaluation before being awarded the Ampang Line LRT extension project.

In a written reply to Parliament, Najib said the George Kent consortium had passed technical evaluation and offered the second-lowest price among eight bidders.

He said George Kent’s joint venture with Lion Pacific was fit for the RM1.084 billion tender.

Najib’s statement comes despite documents submitted by Pakatan Rakyat (PR) showing George Kent only scored 38.62 marks out of 70, placing it third last in technical evaluation.

“GKLP JV (George Kent-Lion Pacific Joint Venture) is a combination of local companies with financial ability and are listed in Bursa Malaysia,” Najib said.

“The bidder that offered a price lower than GKLP JV had not been considered because it did not fulfil the contract criteria,” he added.

Najib said the bidding result was accepted by other international bidders without any sign of discontent.

Last month, George Kent had denied the “baseless allegations that GKLP JV failed the full technical and commercial evaluations”, a move in which PKR’s Rafizi Ramli said was deceitful to the public.

Rafizi previously pointed out that the George Kent joint venture had only received “8.7 marks out of the total 30 marks for financial evaluation”, saying that Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad (Prasarana), asset owner of Klang Valley’s public light rail transit (LRT) and bus services, had listed it as failing its financial evaluation.

“With 38.62 marks out of 70 marks, George Kent is the third last in the technical evaluation,” Rafizi had said, adding that project consultant Halcrow had in its full report stated that “it is not confident that the George Kent consortium can carry out the project.”

The document shows that financial and technical competency make up 30 marks and 70 marks respectively in the bidding evaluation.

It also appeared to indicate that the George Kent joint venture had not complied with contract requirements.

Rafizi described George Kent’s denial about its compliance with the evaluation results as “insults” to the country’s procurement system.

The PKR strategy chief also said that “this raises the question of Prasarana’s ability to monitor and ensure that George Kent will fulfil all conditions and work schedule as agreed” in the contract.

Rafizi has repeatedly accused Najib of interfering in the tender bid and granting the multimillion contract to George Kent, which he claimed was controlled by a “close associate” of the prime minister and which also scored one of the lowest points in the technical and commercial evaluation for the project.

Rail projects have increasingly come under the spotlight due to the billions of ringgit that are involved, as the country embarks on a rail expansion drive that not only includes the extension of KL’s LRT system but also the new Klang Valley MRT, the southern rail double-tracking project and a possible high-speed rail line to Singapore.

The MRT project tender process was also recently hit by criticism after several multi-national vendors reportedly decided not to participate in the bid to supply rolling stock for the project, citing concerns over favouritism.

--The Malaysian Insider