GEORGE TOWN (Aug 14): SRS Consortium, in which Gamuda Bhd leads in terms of its 60% majority stake in the consortium, has been appointed as the Project Delivery Partner (PDP) for the RM27 billion Penang Transport Master Plan (TMP).

The other two partners in the consortium are Penang-based Loh Phoy Yen Holdings Sdn Bhd (20%) and Ideal Property Development Sdn Bhd (20%).

The announcement of the PDP for the TMP, which aims to mitigate traffic congestion in the state by 2030 and to ensure Penang’s prosperity beyond 2050, was announced by Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng this morning.

“After [a] comprehensive study of the proposals received, the State Exco had on Aug 12 appointed SRS Consortium as the PDP for the implementation of the TMP, based on their extensive expertise on mass rail transit and related public transport infrastructure, as well as large-scale township development,” said Lim.

Following today’s announcement, the PDP will be working closely with the State Government in the next six months to ascertain the detailed execution master plan and engineering designs, gather public feedback, and most crucially obtain all State and Federal approvals for each TMP component.

The appointed PDP will be tasked to execute the TMP with no cost overruns and delays resulting from the non-performance of contractors.

“The State Government emphasises that all costs and expenses incurred will be fully borne by the PDP in the event that no approvals for each TMP component is obtained from the Federal Government.

“In other words, the PDP fully bears the risk of expenses and cost incurred which will only be met from the project proceeding, when Federal Government approval is obtained,” said Lim.

He added that with all approvals and planning for the various TMP Work Packages in place, the PDP will proceed to call for open tenders and invite tender submissions from interested parties.

The State expects the first TMP project to be rolled out by 2017.

“The next challenge will be constructing a financial architecture based on a land swap to finance the cost of at least RM27 billion to fund the TMP, this important issue will only be addressed when all licensing approvals have been secured from the Federal Government by the PDP,” said Lim.

Gamuda (fundamental: 1.8; valuation: 2) shares and trade in its structured warrants were suspended from 9am today.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)