This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on July 26, 2016.

KUALA LUMPUR: A joint venture (JV) between Bina Puri Holdings Bhd and Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd yesterday received and accepted a letter of award from Lebuhraya Borneo Utara Sdn Bhd for the proposed development and upgrade of Pan Borneo Highway in Sarawak for a contract sum of RM1.36 billion.

The award is for Phase 1 of the construction of roads and bridges from Sg Awik to Bintangor Junction in Sarawak.

According to Bina Puri’s announcement yesterday, the contract is for a duration of 47 months. The 70:30 JV is between PPES Works (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd (PPESW) and Bina Puri Sdn Bhd (BPSB).

The PPESW-BPSB JV was incorporated to undertake the contract as a condition imposed in the tender for the contract.

PPESW is the main construction arm of conglomerate Cahya Mata Sarawak, while BPSB is a wholly-owned subsidiary of civil and building construction group Bina Puri.

“With this award, the total projects secured by the group in 2016 are RM480.66 million. We are confident of more successful awards before year end,” said Bina Puri.

Packages worth up to RM10 billion are expected to be dished out for the 2,083km Pan Borneo Highway project connecting Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei. The cost of the project was reported at RM16 billion.

So far, two packages have been awarded, to the Zecon-Kimlun JV involving Zecon Bhd and Kimlun Corp Bhd worth RM1.5 billion and the Hock Seng Lee-Daya Maju JV (between Hock Seng Lee Bhd and Dhaya Maju Infrastucture [Asia] Sdn Bhd) worth RM1.7 billion.

Expectations for more jobs to be announced for the project have pushed prices of infrastructure and construction-related counters up recently.

Cahya Mata Sarawak topped the list, rising by 8.62% in the last one month to yesterday’s close of RM3.78, with a market capitalisation of RM4.06 billion. Year to date, it has fallen 25.75%.

Steel fabricator KKB Engineering Bhd, construction company Hock Seng Lee, power and telecommunication cable manufacturer Sarawak Cable Bhd (SCable) and property developer Naim Holdings Bhd have also seen active trade.

KKB Engineering rose 17.02% in the last one month to close at RM1.65 yesterday.

Over the last one month, Hock Seng Lee gained 7.83% to close at RM1.79 yesterday; SCable added 5.4% to close at RM1.38, while Naim Holdings saw a gain of 6.52% to its last share price of RM1.96.

Bina Puri has risen 10.83% over the last month to close at 41 sen yesterday, with a market capitalisation of RM99.25 million.