From left: CHSS partner and executive director George Khraish, Mayor of Baghdad Ammar Moussa Kadhum and HSS Enginers group general manager Anand Sharvanandan
KUALA LUMPUR: HSS Engineers Bhd
, in a joint venture (JV) with Consultant HSS LLC, has been hired for project management consultancy and supervision services for the Metro project in Baghdad.
The group said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia the contract was valued at US$315.89mil (RM1.49bil), representing its largest-ever overseas contract.
HSS Engineers said the contract was awarded by the Mayoralty of Baghdad to a 50:50 collaboration between the group's wholly-owned subsidiary HSS Engineering Sdn Bhd and Consultant HSS, a United Arab Emirates-registered company that has been a longstanding collaborative partner of HSS in the Middle East.
The group said its scope of work includes design review, overseeing the pre-qualification stage, auditing surveying activities, reviewing project performance specifications, conducting project schedule reviews, and providing supervision.
To kick start the project, the JV will receive an advance payment of 15% for project management, totaling US$15.8mil (RM74.5mil).
According to a statement issued by HSS Engineers, the Baghdad Metro is a US$17.5bil national transformative project that aims to provide a sustainable and efficient mass transit solution to the capital’s residential population of over eight million.
"The five-year undertaking entails the construction of a comprehensive seven-line, 148-km driverless metro network across 64 stations that will traverse underground, surface and elevated sections for seamless city-wide connectivity," it said.
The project works shall commence in July 2024, 10 days after the execution of the contract, and is expected to be completed in about five years in May 2029.
HSS Engineers executive vice-chairman Tan Sri Kuna Sittampalam said: “We are immensely proud to catapult our transformative urban metro expertise from a national level to an international stage.
"HSS Engineers will play a pivotal role in this groundbreaking endeavour that will usher Baghdad into a new era of seamless connectivity within the Iraq capital to catalyse urban growth and economic prosperity."
