“The process of terminating Contraves Advanced Devices and Contraves Electrodynamics Sdn Bhd as middlemen is also actively being pursued to enable Boustead Naval Shipyard to negotiate directly with equipment manufacturers and vendors,” he said in a statement.
“This step will be able to reduce the cost of the ships’ equipment,” the statement said, according to Bernama.
He said efforts to revive the project, in what the government calls a six-month mobilisation phase, were proceeding smoothly and making progress.
Construction of the six frigates in the LCS project would resume once all negotiations were completed and agreements finalised in the mobilisation phase, which ends in December.
Hishammuddin said at least one frigate should be completed within two years.
“This period is realistic given that when this mobilisation phase is completed, all parties involved have 14 months to ensure the ship is ready to be built and is on the surface of the water before undergoing the harbour acceptance test and sea acceptance trial,” he said.
Hishammuddin said the shipyard was negotiating with nine banks on restructuring its debts, and the matter was expected to be finalised during the mobilisation period.
Boustead Naval Shipyard was also discussing the detailed design of the ships with Naval Group of France. A technical team from Naval Group is expected to conduct an audit this month.
The six frigates in the LCS project are based on the Gowind class of ships produced by Naval Group, which is owned by the French government.
Hishammuddin said a representative of the French government had submitted a written commitment to resume and complete the LCS project.
“This is an important and very helpful development,” he said.
While waiting for the LCS project to be fully completed, the navy had applied to acquire a second batch of littoral mission ships (corvettes) equipped with more comprehensive weaponry.
The matter had been brought to the Economic Planning Unit of the Prime Minister’s Department.
“All parties involved are no longer looking back and are working hard to ensure that the navy can have these necessary assets,” he said.