Thousands of New Rail Construction Jobs for Malaysia

Just before Christmas the Malaysian government announced that they had awarded the US$11.5billion Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project to the local Malaysian MMC-Gamuda JV.
The project is estimated to create 130,000 new jobs and generate between RM3bil and RM4bil in income from construction and operations between 2011 and 2020. In due course both Malaysian and expatriate quantity surveyors, engineers and rail signaling, electrification & permanent way specialists will be pleased of this news.  It will be a further major rail construction project in Asia to attract attention along with others, most notably in Hong Kong & China.
 
Malaysia Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Rail Construction Project Details
This ambitious project will comprise 3 lines, and the first railway line to start construction will run from Sungai Buloh to Kajang, passing through the centre of Kuala Lumpur.  It will have 17km of tunnels and 35 stations. The two additional lines will each be of similar magnitude and scope.  Construction is expected to start on site in July 2011 although the tender process for awarding packages of work to civil engineering & rail contractors is now underway.  If you are interested in working on this project with  project stakeholders in any professional construction capacity, it would be advantageous to register your CV with the construction recruitment consultants at Maxim Recruitment by clicking here.

A New Way of Managing the Construction Risk
To ensure project delivery the Malaysian Government has decided not to use traditional methods of engaging turnkey contractors or relying solely on the services of project management consultants. Instead, MMC-Gamuda is to be the Project Delivery Partner (PDP) with the role of letting most contracts to other companies and ensuring through stringent construction project management supervision that they do not have cost or time overruns.
The PDP arrangement may sound novel to many Malaysians but it is a common practice in many parts of the world now. Examples of other construction jobs using similar project management arrangements include Crossrail Project in London, the London Olympics 2012 and the Korea High Speed Rail project in South Korea.

The only exception to the PDP arrangement is that MMC-Gamuda themselves will be allowed to bid for tunnelling works (of which there will be much) in the context of them being the only indigenous Malaysian contractor with the required expertise – as demonstrated in their successful completion of the SMART tunnel in Kuala Lumpur & the Kaohsiung MRT project in Taiwan.

Exciting times indeed for the rail construction industry in Asia – Malaysia and Hong Kong to name but two.  Keep an eye on the Malaysia, Hong Kong and other Asia based rail construction job vacancies  posted on the Maxim Recruitment website.  Feel free to submit your CV to either a specific vacancy found from the construction job search page or speculatively to be considered for current & future roles.