According to Sources

Posted on Star Bizweek:

• Melewar eyes monorail project
  Melewar Industrial Group Bhd is believed to have emerged as the front-runner to bag the Penang Monorail project, and may secure the contract by end this month if all goes well, sources familiar with the matter tell BizWeek.

This is what mentioned in the article.

• Saturday March 10, 2007
  
  Melewar eyes monorail project
  
  The RM1.2bil contact could be awarded by month-end
  
  BY JOSE BARROCK
  jose@thestar.com.my
  
  MELEWAR Industrial Group Bhd is believed to have emerged as the front-runner to bag the Penang Monorail project, and may secure the contract by end this month if all goes well, sources familiar with the matter tell BizWeek.
  
  It is understood that the Government could make an announcement pertaining to the award of the RM1.2bil contract, to Melewar as early as end of this month depending on several minor issues being ironed out.
  
  Melewar had bid for the building of the Penang Monorail, which is under the purview of the 9MP, sometime mid last year and had made a presentation to the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and the Economic Planning Unit in June the same year.
  
  The decision however was delayed due to rival bids made by several other parties keen to bag the large contract.
  
  However the bid by Melewar is believed to be in favour because of its lower costs, compared to that of the other bidders, which include Penang Port Sdn Bhd, a consortium made up of Scomi Engineering Bhd and KL Infrastructure Group Bhd, and MMC Metrail Sdn Bhd, which is a 20% unit of MMC Corp Bhd.
  
  According to the source Melewar’s 70% unit Melewar Integrated Engineering Sdn Bhd, which has expertise in engineering among others will spearhead the Penang Monorail initiative.
  
  Melewar Integrated Engineering’s managing director, Uwe Ahrens, owns the remaining 30% equity in the company.
  
  It is also a possibility that Melewar may rope in the requisite technical expertise via tie-ups with Russian and Swiss partners, who are familiar with building such railway lines in Europe, but the details of the companies and their backgrounds are still murky at press time.
  
  BizWeek understands that these tie-ups with the Russian and Swiss parties, was Melewar’s ace all along, and had brought down the company’s cost of building the light rail track to about RM30mil per kilometre, from RM60mil or thereabouts, which the other bidders made.
  
  With the lucrative contract in the bag, Melewar’s fortunes should get a shot in the arm, and its dismal earnings could improve.
  
  Melewar changed its financial year end from January to June, which means that for the 11 months ended December last year, the company posted a net profit of almost RM32mil on the back of about RM500mil in sales. The bulk of these profits were derived from its unit Mycron Steel Bhd in which it has about 54% equity.
  
  News of Melewar bagging the Penang Monorail first surfaced in late January this year, and caused a surge in its trading volume.
  
  Year to date, Melewar’s stock has gained some 16% and ended trading on Thursday at 96 sen.

How my dear old Brown Cow?