Govt did not have a hand in awarding of KLIA aerotrain contract, says Loke

KLANG: There is no government interference in the renewed involvement of Pestech Technology Sdn Bhd in the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) aerotrain replacement project, says Anthony Loke.

This comes after the company, a unit of Bursa Malaysia-listed Pestech International Bhd, was reportedly reappointed as contractor despite its earlier contract being terminated in August.

The Transport Minister said, however, it was not a reappointment of Pestech itself as the appointment was actually given to original equipment manufacturer (OEM) Alstom Transport Systems (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd.

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“Pestech is actually a partner to Alstom, so the appointment is actually to Alstom together with IJM Pestech. It’s not Pestech per se,” he said.

He added that the contract was managed by Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB), with no direct interference by the government.

“MAHB does report to the Transport Ministry but the deliberation and awarding of the contract are purely under MAHB’s board of directors.

“There was no direct interference from the ministry, even though we have a representative on the board, who is the ministry’s deputy secretary-general,” he told a press conference after an event here on Friday (Jan 19).

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He added that questions on the project’s increased cost of about 15% should be directed to MAHB.

On Thursday (Jan 18), it was reported that French rolling stock manufacturer Alstom had been appointed as the new OEM for the project, according to MAHB.

With this new development, MAHB said the aerotrain, which runs between KLIA’s terminals, is set to be operational according to the original schedule of before end-March 2025.

The new contract with Alstom, however, is expected to incur a cost increase that will be capped at 15%, bringing the project cost to RM456.1mil, excluding operations and maintenance.