KUCHING: KKB Engineering Bhd has secured a RM48mil contract from the state government for a major water pipeline project in Sama Jaya Free Industrial Zone slated for the high-technology industries there.
The contract period is 24 months.
Executive director Kho Poh Lin said the contract involved the laying of steel water pipes from Kuching Water Board’s (KWB) Batu Kitang water treatment plant to Sama Jaya.
“The project will stretch some 17km,” she told StarBiz yesterday.
Kho said the job was expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2014, subject to the terms and conditions to be agreed upon between the government and KKB.
Sama Jaya is home to a dozen high-tech firms, including those from United States and Japan. MEMC Electronic Material Inc, which invested in solar wafering facilities, was the latest major company to commence operation there last year.
KKB, a major manufacturer and supplier of steel water pipes in Sarawak and Sabah, completed last year a RM296mil water supply scheme to bring raw and treated water from Bintulu town to Samalaju Industrial Park, Bintulu.
Samalaju Industrial Park caters to capital- and energy-intensive industries, like aluminium and manganese ferro-alloy smelting plants, several of which are under construction.
The RM48mil contract is the second major contract KKB had won in two weeks.
The other contract, worth RM171mil, was from Pertama Ferroalloys Sdn Bhd, which involves the supply and installation of structural steel and cladding works.
Pertama Ferroalloys, formerly AML Manganese (M) Sdn Bhd, is investing in a RM790mil manganese ferro-alloy smelting plant in Samalaju. The plant is expected to commence commercial production in the second half of 2013.
KKB has been pre-qualified for at least two other projects in Samalaju within Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (Score).
Last month, KKB received a letter of intent from KACC-JAKS JV for the supply of steel pipe piles worth RM28mil for a bridge project in Sarawak.
According to another KKB executive director, Kho Pok Tong, the group was currently studying several water supply projects, mostly for rural Sarawak.
He said the company would be submitting proposals to the authorities, and expected outcomes of these proposals by the first half of next year.
With the completion of its new RM29mil steel fabrication plant along Jalan Bako near here, KKB has more than tripled its group annual production capacity of 50,000 tonnes from 15,000 tonnes per annum.
Source: The Star Dated: 15/08/2012
