The government today continued to evade questions pertaining to the multi-billion ringgit double-tracking railway project - Malaysia's single largest infrastructure project to date - despite new developments.

Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy refused to take any questions on the derailed project which raised a storm of controversy after Malaysia allegedly reneged on its promise to give the contract to railway engineering giants from India and China.

"We will confine ourselves to (the issue of) road accidents today. I only want to talk about road accidents and the cabinet's decision on it after much deliberation," he said at a press conference following the ministry's post-cabinet briefing in Putrajaya.

Asked whether the cabinet had discussed the railway project at all, Chan repeated his earlier reply about road accidents.

"You can ask me about that another time... maybe tonight or tomorrow morning. But not today, please. I only want to talk about the road accidents," he said to malaysiakini when pressed further.

The government awarded the lucrative deal to local consortium Gamuda Bhd-Malaysian Mining Corporation Bhd JV. On Oct 22, Gamuda-MMC JV announced the letter of award, taking Ircon International Ltd and China Railways Engineering and Telecommunications (Cret) by surprise.

Gamuda-MMC JV also said Ircon and Cret - the Chinese consortium that was promised the southern grid (Seremban-Johor Baru) - had refused to accept the sub-contracted jobs.

Talks are currently underway for the sub-contracts involving offers to DRB-Hicom, Emrail and DRB-Hicom/MMCE/Hikmat Asia.

New bids submitted

Today, several dailies reported that new bids were submitted by New Delhi-based Ircon International Ltd and Germany's Siemens AG for the railway job, adding uncertainty to unconfirmed reports already churning the rumour mills.

StarBiz quoted Works Minister S Samy Vellu as saying that state-owned Ircon has submitted a fresh bid for 70 percent of the work for the northern grid (Ipoh-Padang Besar), which was initially promised to it.

Despite the sudden turn of events, Ircon has continued the preliminary work including site investigation and soil testing for the northern stretch, one of the two parcels that make up the 5,500-km trans-Asia railway line between Singapore and southern China.

Samy Vellu described the new offer as "more amenable for discussion" but said the government will have to okay it.

AFP quoted Indian Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Satyabrata Mokherjee as saying that he had been told that Ircon's participation in the double-tracking venture was still under consideration by new premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's administration. (photo)

According to MailMoney, Siemens AG is also eyeing the signalling job, thus posing a threat to Japan's Mitsui & Co, which was initially promised the contract in a letter of intent.

However, it remains unclear if all three letters of intent to Ircon, Cret and Mitsui have been revoked by the government.

Siemens Malaysia Sdn Bhd had refused to confirm the development, according to MailMoney.

Sources told malaysiakini last week that Mitsui had submitted a final bid for the systems job on Nov 21 but the actual figure is not known.

The rail deal was packaged via a counter-trade with India and China for payment through crude Malaysian palm oil.

Gamuda is partly-controlled by Lin Yun Ling while MMC is controlled by tycoon Syed Mohktar Al Bukhary.