Decision on highway takeover to be known by end of month, says Baru

Works Minister Baru Bian.

BESTARI JAYA: The Cabinet is expected to make a decision regarding the proposed takeover of four highway concessions by the end of this month after scrutinising the findings of the study carried out by the works ministry.

Works Minister Baru Bian said the findings were currently being distributed to all ministries for scrutiny and that the announcement on the matter would also be made at the latest by the end of this month.

The minister, however, refused to elaborate.

“To be fair, I shouldn’t speak prematurely about it, but definitely it is for the good of the people in all aspects. All the stakeholders’ rights have been considered.

“So, we can expect something positive,” he said when asked about the latest on the highway concession takeover plan here today.

Last June, Baru was reported as saying that the proposal for the acquisition of any highway would only be decided by the Cabinet after taking into account the result of the study.

He said the ministry had also appointed an independent accredited audit consultant in January 2019 to study and examine the direction of the country’s toll industry.

Earlier, Baru officiated the ground-breaking ceremony for IJM Corporation Berhad’s Industrialised Building System (IBS) Plant here today.

Present was IJM Corporation Berhad group CEO and managing director Soam Heng Choon.

In his speech, Baru said the government was committed to promoting the IBS technology and one of the ministry’s main targets was having a mandatory policy for private projects worth RM50 million and above to use the IBS system.

He said the IBS plant initiative had also been seen as capable of realising the government’s mission to build more affordable houses in a shorter period of time.

“In fact, the use of IBS can also provide better-quality houses and comfort to the people,” he said.

Soam said IJM had invested RM165 million in the state-of-the-art fully-automated facility on the 10ha site.

It will have an annual output of 500,000 square metres. - FMT