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KUALA LUMPUR: Privately-held Najcom Sdn Bhd and its joint-venture partner UEM Group Bhd are understood to have bagged the contract to build the women and children's hospital in Kuala Lumpur costing between RM700 million and RM900 million, sources said.
It is understood that the two parties had won the award, which is slated to be via a private finance initiative, in an open tender. It was earlier speculated that IJM Corp Bhd was the frontrunner to bag this job, but Penang-based Najcom and UEM are believed to have secured the job after clearing the last hurdle.
Company officials declined to comment when contacted by The Edge Financial Daily.
While UEM Group is a government-linked company wholly-owned by Khazanah Nasional Bhd, little is known of Najcom and the parties behind it.
A check with the Companies Commission of Malaysia reveals that Najcom is 52.5% controlled by Zainabbi Abubacker and 47.5% by Datuk Haja Najmudeen Kader.
Najcom's financials were not available as a certificate relating to exempt the private company was lodged. The company is not known as a top-tier contractor but it has done quite a few restoration jobs in Penang — repairing and refurbishing old buildings.
According to the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) website, the company has a paid-up capital of RM750,000 and the most recent job it undertook was to build the Institut Farmaseutikal Dan Nutraseutikal Malaysia in Universiti Sains Malaysia in 2008 for RM80 million. The contract was reportedly awarded by Ketua Pengarah Kejaya Raya.
In 2005, it was awarded a RM11.15 million contract to renovate Kompleks Mahkamah Pulau Pinang.
Apart from these two projects, Najcom's other contracts were mostly below RM10 million, and largely for renovation and restoration works, according to the CIDB website.
The exact location of the new hospital is not known, but it will be in Kuala Lumpur. Nevertheless, the women and children's hospital was mentioned in both the 2011 and 2012 budgets.
When announcing Budget 2012 earlier this month, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak kept it brief and said the women and children's hospital would be built through a government-and-private-sector joint venture.
UEM Group has built an empire dealing in expressways, township and property development, engineering and construction, among others.
Some of the larger companies under its stable include PLUS Expressways Bhd, UEM Land Holdings Bhd, UEM Builders Sdn Bhd, Faber Group Bhd, Time Engineering Bhd and Time dotCom Bhd.
The group has several large construction contracts, including the second Penang bridge along with a Chinese party, and was active in the merger and acquisition scene over the past year.
Late last year, it proposed to privatise PLUS Expressways (together with the Employees Provident Fund) for RM23 billion, while UEM Land took over property developer Sunrise Bhd for RM1.4 billion and Time dotCom announced the acquisition of several companies to boost its income.
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