LANGKAWI: The government has signed a sixth supplementary contract with Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) project but will also begin taking over the company immediately.
However, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said he hoped the process of the Finance Ministry taking over the company will begin immediately.
He said a special purpose vehicle had already been formed to bring BNSSB under the Ministry of Finance, Incorporated (MoF, Inc).
"We want this project to move forward as these assets are needed by the Royal Malaysian Navy, which is why we have signed this supplementary contract.
"However, I hope that now that we have signed this contract, they can immediately begin the process of bringing BNSSB under the Finance Ministry," he told reporters after the signing ceremony.
Mohamad said, even after the company is brought under the MoF, Inc fold, the progress monitoring committee (PMC) would continue to keep an eye on the troubled project.
The committee, jointly chaired by the secretaries-general of the Treasury and Defence Ministry, would also be making scheduled reports to the cabinet and Parliament, he said.
This, he said, would be done at least every three months so that all quarters can be kept up to date.
The controversy surrounding the RM9.128 billion contract — the largest single deal in the Defence Ministry's history — blew up when there were significant delays in the project.
Six vessels of what is set to become the Maharaja Lela class LCS were ordered and five were to have been delivered by August last year, but not a single one had appeared.
Despite this, more than RM6 billion had already been paid to BNSSB, a subsidiary of Boustead Holdings Bhd (BHB).
Investigations were launched against several people, but so far only one person has been charged over the case.
In January, it was announced that the contract had been reviewed and the order reduced to five ships.
Mohamad said it was hoped that the first vessel — to be named KD Maharaja Lela — would be ready by November next year.
"It will then undergo harbour acceptance tests, followed by sea acceptance tests. Once these are passed, it will be received by the navy and commissioned into the fleet," he said, adding that this would likely be only in 2025 or 2026.
Asked whether there was any plan to expedite the process considering how much the project had already been delayed, he said there were none.
"There are no shortcuts for harbour and sea tests, or the ship will sink," he joked.
Mohamad said all five ships were already being built, and were in various stages of completion.
"The first is almost done... (work) is done in blocks," he said.
It is learnt that the first vessel is about 70 per cent done and is progressing according to the new timeline.
Mohamad also said BNSSB would be paid according to the progress of the work.
"It is no more like those days, when payment is done according to timelines. Now, if they do 10 per cent, then we pay them 10 per cent."
