On June 13, transport minister Loke Siew Fook revealed that Putrajaya had terminated the concession of Integrated Marine Works Sdn Bhd (IMW) – which had fallen into financial distress – for its alleged failure to remedy breaches of the terms of the concession agreement.

In May 2022, the government had extended IMW’s concession to provide dredging and reclamation works at all federal ports owned by the government for an additional 15-year term.

Two letters sighted by FMT claimed that IMW, via its receivers and managers firm AdamPrimus & Co, had reached out to the transport ministry to discuss remedies for the purported breaches listed in a default notice.

However, the receivers and managers claimed they received “no meaningful response or engagement from” Loke’s ministry.

The default notice was issued by the ministry on Jan 29.

In a letter to the transport ministry’s secretary-general dated June 12, the receivers and managers said it had attempted to communicate with the ministry on three separate occasions earlier this year.

“However, despite the attempts to engage the ministry of transport in a discussion and before we could take appropriate steps, the termination notice was unfortunately issued,” the letter read.

The letter was also forwarded to the maritime department and Malayan Banking Berhad (Maybank), which had placed IMW in receivership.

Last month, The Edge reported that IMW had charges valued at RM582.8 million with Maybank as of March 2017.

In a separate letter, lawyers representing IMW said the termination was wrongful as the company was not given a fair opportunity to be heard or to remedy matters raised in the ministry’s default notice.

IMW also contends that had the transport ministry engaged with them, an “amicable resolution of the default notice could have been achieved”.

A copy of the lawyer’s letter was also forwarded to six port authorities.

The transport ministry has declined a request for comment.