KUALA LUMPUR: Over 700 representatives from local and foreign firms, as well as foreign missions, attended the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (KL-SG HSR) Request For Information (RFI) briefing today.
In the briefing, the RFI procedure was explained in general terms, along with the deadlines for local and foreign businesses to submit concept proposals, as well as consortia, for the KL-SG HSR project based on a public-private partnership model.
The concept proposal stage will begin on August 11 with the release of the RFI Documents and end on November 15 with the submission deadline.
MyHSR Corporation Sdn Bhd (MyHSR Corp) hosted the briefing at the Ministry of Finance's auditorium in Putrajaya.
Apart from Malaysian companies, the RFI briefing was also attended by representatives of industry players from the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, China, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Singapore.
MyHSR disclosed that the project structure would be based on the Design-Finance-Build-Operate-Transfer (DFBOT) model.
Datuk Sri Fauzi Abdul Rahman, chairman of MyHSR Corp., said that participating firms and consortia must demonstrate the ability to develop this project with a proven track record, technical expertise, resources, and project management capabilities in order to complete this major infrastructure development within the budgeted cost, quality, and time.
He said the briefing provided interested companies with relevant information such as the key components, submission requirements, and evaluation criteria for them to prepare and deliver a comprehensive concept proposal.
Among others, participating firms and consortia should demonstrate their ability to sustainably build and operate HSR services with realistic commercial expectations, including, but not limited to, demand estimation, cost optimisation, revenue diversification, and financial projections.
Additionally, the firms or consortia must have the ability to raise the required funding from diverse sources and develop a financially sustainable model that minimises reliance on government funding while ensuring successful project implementation and operation.
According to Fauzi, the briefing also presented case studies on the positive impact of several HSR developments and economic integration in Taiwan, Japan, and China, whose successes are being emulated by the United Kingdom, Thailand, and Indonesia.
"We are optimistic that the KL-SG HSR project is more than just a transportation solution. It will form the major backbone between the Klang Valley and the southern corridor of Peninsular Malaysia, spurring the development of key economic centres, intermediate cities, high-value industrial parks, and many more," he said.
He said besides stimulating economic recovery following global headwinds and the COVID-19 pandemic, the project will provide a much-needed boost to Malaysia's construction sector and its supporting ecosystem while creating high-value jobs and generating business opportunities for small to large-scale enterprises.