Published on: Wednesday, July 01, 2009 |
Kuala Lumpur: Alstom Asia Pacific Sdn Bhd, a unit of French engineering giant Alstom SA, has submitted a pre-qualification bid for Petronas Gas Bhd's engineering, procurement and construction contract to build a RM900 million gas-fired 300-megawatt (MW) power plant in Sabah.
Its country-president for Malaysia, Saji Raghavan, said Alstom made the bid early this year and the results were not known yet.
"Alstom is looking at hydro power potentials and public transportation contracts for railway in Malaysia," Raghavan said.
He added that Alstom was eyeing the proposed hydro power plant projects announced recently by Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) and Sarawak Energy Bhd (SEB).
TNB said it plans to build a 372MW hydroelectric plant in Ulu Jelai, Pahang, and a 212MW plant in Terengganu for over RM3 billion and is in the process of calling for tenders for the projects.
Among the projects that SEB is planning is the Murum hydroelectric plant.
Raghavan said Alstom will submit proposals for the main equipment such as electro mechanical and hydro mechanical for the projects.
He said there were not enough Malaysian projects on Alstom's plate today, given that it has completed major power plant projects in the country in recent years, such as those for TNB, SEB, Malakoff, Genting Sanyen and Powertek.
"The main challenge in this business is to understand the emerging needs of the country in the Asia-Pacific region in the long-term manner. If more power generation projects come along, we will pursue them. Malaysia is a growing market with lots of potential," he said.
Alstom's current projects in Malaysia include a RM500 million contract for electro mechanical for phase one of the Bakun project in Sarawak.
It has an 18-year operation and maintenance contract from Genting Sanyen for the Kuala Langat Plant, and a 21-year service contract from Technologi Tenaga Perlis Corp for the 650MW gas-fired power plant in Perlis.
Raghavan said Alstom, which employs 800 people in Malaysia, is also interested to bid for coal-fired power plant and combined cycle power plant projects that are worth a few billion ringgit in Australia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand.
