MRT2 workers in limbo

KUALA LUMPUR -- Workers involved in the underground portion of the Mass Rapid Transit 2 (MRT2) project connecting Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya are uncertain about their future on the project.

Muadh Mohd Nazlee, one of the project engineers affected, said so far, MRT Corporation has not issued any official stop work order on the project.

“We do not know whether to proceed with our work or to stop. All we know is that we have to be prepared for the worst and that all of us will have to look for work somewhere else,” he told Bernama.

On Sunday, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the cabinet has decided to terminate MMC-Gamuda’s contract to build the underground portion of the MRT 2 project, adding that the unfinished work would be re-tendered via an international open tender process.

Lim said the decision was part of a cost-saving exercise as the government would save RMM5.22 billion, or 23 per cent of MRT 2’s construction cost.

However, MMC-Gamuda said about 20,000 personnel from a supply chain of over 600 Malaysian companies would lose their jobs following the termination, including over 3,000 employees of MMC-Gamuda’s joint-venture company, of whom more than 60 per cent are Bumiputeras.

Expressing hope that the government would reconsider the decision, Muadh said that it was completely unexpected.

“It is all too sudden, too fast. The announcement was made on Sunday and now, we are left hanging,” he said, Bernama report.

He also said the full-time workers are not the only ones affected, as those under the Tunnelling Training Academy (TTA) that was set up by MMC-Gamuda to train local talents to conduct high-skilled construction works are also affected.

“It is clear that everyone is worried about their future. They are hardworking people and all of TTA employees are locals.

“Imagine if we are scrapped from being the main contractor, will all the hard work done by them to build for the future be for nothing?” he asked.

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