Engineering consultancy firm seeks to strike out suit over KVDT2 project
An engineering consultancy firm is seeking to strike out Dhaya Maju LTAT Sdn Bhd’s lawsuit linked to the Klang Valley Double Tracking (KVDT2) rail project.
Opus Consultants (M) Sdn Bhd claims that the government’s decision to cancel Dhaya Maju’s contract over the project was not based on the consultancy firm’s 2018 cost appraisal report (Opus Report) over the project.
Opus Consultants is one of four defendants listed in one of Dhaya Maju’s legal actions to challenge the government’s decision to terminate the contractor’s (Dhaya Maju) contract.
The other three defendants are Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong, Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB), and the government of Malaysia.
Opus Consultants is seeking to remove itself as a party from this suit.
At present, Dhaya Maju has two pending high court legal actions over the matter, with it having reportedly withdrawn a third one recently.
According to an affidavit signed by Opus Consultants director Chan Tuck Leong, the firm contended that the termination of Dhaya Maju’s revised contract took place in 2020, which was two years after it submitted the Opus Report to then transport minister Anthony Loke in August 2018.
The engineering consultancy firm claimed that the Opus Report relates to the cost appraisal and timeline appraisal for the original contract, and not to the revised contract, revised contract sum or the revised contract scope, if any.
Opus Consultants contended that the objective of its report was to conduct cost appraisal based on “costs data from the Ipoh-Padang Besar Double Track project” supplemented with the updated cost data from market sources.
It further stated that Dhaya Maju failed to connect the Opus Report to the termination of the revised contract, and that instead the plaintiff has pleaded extensively about Wee and his alleged intentions, motives or actions in causing the termination of the revised contract.
“The claim (suit) does not disclose any reasonable cause of action against the third defendant (Opus Consultants).
“The basis for this is two-fold; first that the Opus Report was issued prior to events that led to the current dispute and second, the plaintiff (Dhaya Maju) has pleaded extensively in all three suits that the real reason for the failure to execute the documents comprising the revised contract is the acts and/or intention of the second defendant (Wee).
“The claim against the third defendant is scandalous, frivolous or vexatious and/or is an abuse of process of this honourable court. The production of the Opus Report could not induce the breach of the revised contract.
“If the actions or intention of the second defendant or the high costs of the plaintiff’s services are alleged to be the cause of the government’s decision to terminate the original and revised contract, then it is those reasons that are the cause of the termination, not the Opus Report,” the engineering consultancy firm contended.
In August 2020, Transport Minister Wee announced that the government would reopen the tender for the KVDT2 rail project, claiming that investigations found the RM4.475 billion price tag for the project was too high, despite cost-cutting measures made by the previous Pakatan Harapan administration.
The project came under the spotlight after Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz revealed details of the 101 contracts that were purportedly awarded through a direct negotiation process during the time Harapan was in power.
The KVDT2 contract, in terms of value, was the largest on the list.
On June 22, Dhaya Maju LTAT Sdn Bhd obtained an interim court order to prevent the government from calling for a new tender for the KVDT2 rail project.
This interim order was issued by the Court of Appeal as part of an appeal by Dhaya Maju in the suit against Wee, KTMB, Opus Consultants, and the government.
