The Malay Contractors Association (PKMM) has told all quarters not to listen to the views of external parties who are not related to the industry, over the issue of Malay contractors not being eligible for bids for the Klang Valley Mass Rail Transit (MRT) project.

In a move to keep a lid on the controversy, PKMM president Mokhtar Samad said not everyone was qualified to discuss the issue, especially if one is not working in the relevant field.

This follows a solution that the government-owned Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd (Prasarana), which is in charge of the project, had offered the contractors.

Earlier, six NGOs had reportedly opposed Prasarana’s solution, amongst them right-wing group Perkasa and the Class F Bumiputera Contractors Association.

Together with the Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia (MCCM), PKMM had pressured Prasarana to revise the pre-qualification criteria to allow more contractors to be eligible for the MRT’s civil construction works, stations and the depot.

The compromise came after the associations first demanded the entire project be handed to them as they claimed bumiputera companies were not getting any tenders relating to the massive Kuala Lumpur rail project.

When contacted today, Mokhtar said he was satisfied with Prasarana’s move to relax the criteria, such as allowing local joint-ventures or consortiums to bid for projects said to be worth RM36 billion.

He said it is normal in any dispute that there will still be parties who are dissatisfied.

When asked, he said that Malay contractors had the competency to handle most areas of the jobs related to the project except for jobs requiring “highly technical skills”.