October 28, 2022

 

Penang state, Malaysia calls for tender to build poultry distribution centre

 

The city council of Penang state, Malaysia has called for new tenders to finish construction of a poultry distribution centre that was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Malay Mail reported.

 

The original concessionaire, Jetblue Sdn Bhd, who was selected to build, operate, and transfer (BOT) the project in 2019, withdrew from the project in March, according to MBPP Mayor Datuk Yew Tung Seang.

 

He said at a press conference this morning at the construction site that they will continue to complete this project and open it by March 2023. The building is approximately 97% complete and it is disappointing that the company chose to terminate the contract.

 

He said that MBPP had issued a request for proposals for a contract to complete the building.

 

The completion of the building, he said, will continue next month and is anticipated to take about 14 weeks.

 

He said that in order to select a new concessionaire to run and maintain the distribution centre and multi-story parking garage, the city council had also requested a new request for proposals (RFP).

 

In order to select a concessionaire to run the building once it is finished, MBPP is currently evaluating the businesses that responded to the RFP.

 

The 11,300 square metre poultry distribution centre has offices, a loading bay, public restrooms, a five-story multi-level carpark with 223 lots, cold room amenities, and more.

 

Once it is operational next year, Yew said the distribution centre will give traders another way to obtain their supply of chilled and dressed poultry.

 

Due to the pandemic, the poultry distribution center's completion date was pushed back from its original March 2021 deadline.

 

Poultry vendors on the island claimed the concessionaire would monopolise the supply and distribution of poultry on the island, adding to the controversy surrounding the project.

 

Even opposition party Penang Gerakan requested an investigation into the choice of JetBlue to run the poultry supply and distribution at the centre in a report that was submitted to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in May of last year.

 

Since then, the city council has emphasised that all poultry vendors on the island have the option to purchase their supplies elsewhere; they are not required to do so.

 

-      Malay Mail