PETALING JAYA: The revival of the mass rapid transit three (MRT3) project will help propel the overall growth of the construction industry in the country.
Benefiting from the mega infrastructure project are Gamuda Bhd
, YTL Corp Bhd and HSS Engineers Bhd, according to CGS International (CGSI) Research.
The research house noted that Gamuda was the lowest bidder for civil main contractor (CMC) 303 tunnelling before a retender, while YTL was the lowest bidder for CMC 302 before a retender, and HSS was involved in the existing project management consultant (PMC) contract.
“The recognition for HSS’ MRT 3 PMC contract, which was awarded in late 2022 has been slow, given the large civil packages for MRT 3 have yet to be awarded,” CGSI Research said.
It said other listed contractors, which did work for MRT 1 and/or MRT 2 such as WCT Holdings Bhd, Sunway Construction Group Bhd and IJM Corp Bhd, could also be potential beneficiaries of the MRT 3.
In addition, building material players like Malayan Cement Bhd and piling contractors like Econpile Holdings Bhd would also benefit.
CGSI Research reiterated “overweight” on the sector due to expectations of strong project flows from data centres, semiconductor factories and industrial warehouses, as well as a potential revival in government infrastructure spending.
Last Friday, MRT Corp announced it was undertaking a revised public display for MRT 3, running for three months from Sept 2 to Dec 2, 2024.
“We believe this is because of a proposed change in alignment which requires a new railway scheme,” CGSI Research said.
There would be 35 designated locations, eight MRT information kiosks and 27 MRT information trucks at key sites for the public display exercise.
This is to give an opportunity to the public to review and provide feedback on the proposed alignment, sites and other details of the project.
The MRT 3 or the circle line spans 51km around the Kuala Lumpur city’s perimeter and is designed to integrate with existing MRT, light rail transit, KTM and monorail lines through 10 strategically located interchange and connecting stations.
“While we believe the public display shows the government’s intention to revive the MRT 3 project, The timeline remains uncertain for now,” CGSI Research said.
“We believe it is possible that MRT 3 will be included in Budget 2025 and be rolled out next year. However, we are also hearing anecdotally that the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail may take precedence over the MRT 3,” it added.
