KUALA LUMPUR : Datuk Dr Rameli Musa, executive vice-chairman of Ingress Corp Bhd, has been appointed chairman of Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB).
It is understood that Rameli, who was formerly chairman of Balfour Beatty Rail (BBRail) Sdn Bhd, had accepted the letter of appointment from the Ministry of Transport (MOT) here last week.
He replaces Datuk Nawawi Ahmad who announced his resignation as the company's chairman in July 2018, after Barisan Nasional suffered a crushing defeat in the May 2018 elections.
His contract is believed to be for three years, effective February 1, 2019.
Rameli, who sits on the board of several other private limited companies, was not reachable for comment at Press time.
Industry sources said that MOT officials had been trying to get Rameli to accept the offer and lead the national railway company to greater heights after Nawawi stepped down.
"Rameli is the right candidate. He has the knowledge and expertise on railway matters through BBRail. He wears many hats and is definitely the right choice for KTMB. I believe he will spend the first three to six months studying KTMB and do some cleaning up," said the sources.
In the past, Ingress owned 51 per cent of BBRail, which had been involved in several railway projects such as Klang Valley double track, Rawang-Ipoh double track and Northern double track.
In 2011, BBRail had secured a RM1 billion contract to implement the rail system package for the Ipoh-Padang Besar double track.
Rameli, who holds a Bachelor of Telecommunications Engineering and Master in Microwave Communications, both from the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom, started as a lecturer in electronics and microwave telecommunications at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in 1972.
He left in 1975 to work with Pernas NEC Telecommunications Sdn Bhd from 1976 to 1980 before joining Sapura Holdings Sdn Bhd.
Rameli is currently also the executive chairman of Maju Nusa Sdn Bhd and executive director of Ingress Industrial (Thailand) Public Company Ltd.
He has been the executive vice-chairman and non-independent executive director of Ingress since October 23, 2000.
Prior to that he served as an executive chairman of Tap Resources Bhd from 1997 to 1998.