KUALA LUMPUR: After almost five months being left headless, the country's biggest transportation operator Prasarana Malaysia Bhd is set to get its new chief executive by June 1.
The New Straits Times (NST) has learnt that former KTM Bhd (KTMB) boss Mohd Rani Hisham Samsuddin had been picked by the Ministry of Transport to be the new Prasarana chief executive officer (CEO).
"The Prasarana board is expected to endorse the appointment next week," sources told the NST.
Attempts to get Mohd Rani to respond proved futile as at press time.
It was reported that the top post in Prasarana had been left vacant since January after its CEO Datuk Mohamed Hazlan Mohamed Hussain was suspended in January following mounting complaints against Light Rail Transit (LRT) services, such as late notifications of breakdowns among others.
The interim CEO's post has since been overseen by Prasarana chief operating officer Muhammad Nizam Alias.
Prior to this, the other big name bandied to take over the Prasarana CEO's position was former Rapid Penang Sdn Bhd CEO Azhar Ahmad, who is now the general manager of Railway Assets Corporation (RAC).
Azhar - who is known to have transformed the public bus service in Penang, was also the chief operating officer of the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) from 2011 to 2012 before taking up the post at RAC.
Meanwhile, Prasarana, which is owned by the Ministry of Finance Inc, manages the intra city lines, the mass rapid transit, LRT, and the monorail, as well as feeder bus systems.
Mohd Rani is expected to have his hands full at Prasarana, which recorded a pre-tax loss of RM5.15 billion from a revenue of RM746.09 million for the financial year ended December 2018.
As at end of December 2018, the transportation outfit accumulated losses in excess of RM38.8 billion.
"Whoever takes over Prasarana is going to face major challenges in turning around the company.
"The immediate concerns will be tackling the issues facing its bus services and also navigating cash flow problems. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has affected Prasarana badly, it has wiped out almost 90 per cent of revenue and there is no immediate solution in sight for the company in terms of balancing its books," a source familiar with Prasarana operations said.
Mohd Rani, a graduate of Northrop University in the United States, was appointed KTMB CEO on September 15, 2017.
He stepped down from the national railway company in September 2019 and was appointed CEO of Kontena Nasional Bhd on October 7 last year.
Mohd Rani has held senior management position in various organisations namely Post Aviation Sdn Bhd, Senai Airport Terminal Services Sdn Bhd, MISC Trucking & Warehousing Sdn Bhd, KN Sime Logistics Sdn Bhd, DHL Global Forwarding, and Sime Darby Bhd