Wednesday April 7, 2010
KUCHING: Hock Seng Lee Bhd (HSL), the contractor for the RM452mil Kuching city centralised wastewater management system package I project, has invested RM22mil in specialised equipment to reinforce its position to bid for future sewage projects in Sarawak.
Corporate affairs manager Sonja Gan said the marine engineering specialist last year spent RM22mil to buy four advanced tunnel boring machines to carry out trenchless installation of an underground sewage pipe system for the state capital.
She said sewer lines deeper than 2.5m would be installed by these machines which would ensure minimal environmental destruction as no open-cut trenches had to be dug.
Sonja Gan sees many business opportunities in the implementation of SCORE.
“Our investment in these machines and mastery of the trenchless engineering technology will put us in good stead to bid for the future phases of sewage works,” she told StarBiz recently. Similar sewage projects are also expected for Sarawak’s other major towns.
The Kuching city centralised sewage project was reported to be worth RM2bil. It is expected to be carried out in four or five packages to provide coverage to some 90% of the city’s total households.
A central sewage treatment plant will be built under package I, which is due for completion in the second quarter of 2012. Its other main components are a trunk sewer (7.7km), secondary sewer (5.4km) and tertiary sewer (51.4km), connections to large properties (127 in number) and shophouses (1,924) and residential houses (782).
Gan said HSL was now working with Singaporean consultant firm – CH2M Hill Singapore Pty Ltd – on the design for the package II project. HSL intends to bid for this and the remaining packages of the project.
“Going forward, we see wastewater management works as an important component of Sarawak’s urbanisation programme,” said Gan.
She said HSL also saw many business opportunities in the implementation of the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) and the 10th Malaysia Plan.
“There is definitely a clear agenda to speed up development, like the construction of more roads to open up the interiors, and to bring electricity and water supplies to more rural people,” she added.
Gan said HSL, with its strong technical capabilities, local logistical experience and extensive portfolio of specialised marine, heavy-lift, road construction and transportation equipment, had an edge in bidding for both federal and state-funded infrastructure and other development projects.
“Our marine engineering expertise is in strong demand, especially in mass reclamation and flood mitigation works. Many other forms of construction in Sarawak also requires our geo-technical or water-related expertise.”
The company owns a computerised hydraulic cutter suction dredger, which costs some RM50mil at current market price, for mass land reclamation work.
The dredger sucks and pumps sand to the shores. Besides the tunnel boring machines, HSL spent about RM5mil last year to acquire other new construction equipment.
Having secured RM36mil worth of contracts so far this year, HSL is eyeing one or two of the five packages of the proposed Murum dam access road project in the upper Rajang River basin in central Sarawak.
The five packages are estimated at between RM700mil and RM800mil.
The 944MW Murum dam, which is located upstream of the Bakun dam, is under construction for scheduled completion by late 2013.
HSL currently has RM1.75bil worth of contracts in hand, including the RM136mil Sibu flood mitigation scheme. — By Jack Wong
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment