Consortium Zenith-BUCG Sdn Bhd (CZBUCG) Chairman Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli said there were “no plans for a replacement” of BUCG (M) Sdn Bhd (BUCG) as a component in the consortium at the present time.
“Our focus is to start work as soon as possible. Our contractor has always been CRCC.”
Asked when the feasibility study on the project would be ready, he said: “As feasibility studies go, we expect it to be completed by October.”
Zarul said this when contacted immediately after a press conference given by the Gerakan on the matter.
Penang Gerakan Acting Youth Chief Jason Loo had, at the press conference, asked the State Government to reveal which firm would replace the construction company “ousted” from the consortium.
Loo said the booting out of BUCG was surprising, as the Penang Government had taken pride in the consortium’s affiliation with the same company which had built the “birds nest” stadium in Beijing, China.
“The Penang State Government is obliged to tell the ‘real’ story behind BUGG’s working relationship in the consortium,” he said.
Loo also wanted to know the status of the undersea tunnel feasibility report, which he said had been “stuck at 83 per cent” for the longest time.
“Is there something to hide that the feasibility report cannot be produced?
“The way the State Government treats the feasibility report is like making roti canai — they “turn here and there”,” Loo said.
Yesterday, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng revealed that CZBUCG had applied to the State Secretary’s Office to have BUCG dropped from the consortium, due to a crane hook accident in Kuala Lumpur which killed a woman.
A letter from CZBUCG, made available to the press, from the consortium requested for permission to have BUCG opt out from the mega project.
The Sept 1 letter written by Zarul explained it was in the company’s best interest and reputation to have BUCG removed due to the crane incident.
On Aug 25, Chin Khoon Sing, who is from Noordin Street in George Town, died on the spot after a one-tonne crane hook fell on her Perodua Kelisa in Jalan Raja Chulan in Kuala Lumpur.
The hook fell from a 20-storey hotel under construction next to a shopping complex there.
CZBUCG consists of China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) as the main contractor, Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd and BUCG. It is learnt that BUCG holds the smallest share in the consortium.
It won a tender to build the George Town-Butterworth undersea tunnel and three paired roads in 2013. The project is worth RM6.3 billion.
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