Oct 3 (Reuters) - Malaysia's Mass Rapid Transit rail project, which aims to ease congestion in Kuala Lumpur, has awarded construction contracts worth 732.2 million ringgit ($240 million) to three local firms.
Mass Rapid Corp Sdn Bhd, the company set up to undertake the transport project, said in a statement that Naim Engineering Sdn Bhd, a unit of Naim Holdings Berhad , won a 204.7 million ringgit contract.
UEM Construction Sdn Bhd and Apex Communications Sdn Bhd won contracts worth 275.8 million ringgit and 251.7 million ringgit respectively, it added.
The contracts were awarded in a tender open to 12 qualified Bumiputra companies. Bumiputra refers to majority ethnic Malays and other indigenous people in the country who benefit from a decades-old affirmative action policy.
The publicly funded MRT project was initially estimated to cost 37 billion ringgit, but more recent projections have put the figure at around 50 billion ringgit. ($1 = 3.0510 Malaysian ringgit)
(Reporting By Siva Sithraputhran; Editing by Richard Pullin)
((Siva.Sithraputhran@thomsonreuters.com)(+603 23338019))
Keywords: MALAYSIA RAIL/