The ball is now back in Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy's court to furnish details on the multi-billion ringgit double-tracking railway project after his cabinet colleague declined to reveal what he knows of the controversial deal.

Works Minister S Samy Vellu was today repeatedly asked for further details on the fresh bid by New Delhi-based Ircon International Ltd to build and electrify the 336-km Ipoh-Padang Besar stretch - the northern grid.

"Why don't you go and ask the transport minister? This is his area and he is the person who would know the full details of the project," he told reporters after opening the Indian Cultural Centre at the Indian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur.

"My whole mission (in this case) is to bring together the parties concerned for further discussion on how best to resolve the matter."

Retaliation reports

The government has continued to evade questions pertaining to the project, which is a big thorn on its side, given the potential bilateral fallout with India and China.

There are already several reports of subtle retaliation by India and China.

Gamuda Bhd-Malaysian Mining Corporation Bhd JV is the local consortium which won the lucrative contract after submitting a bid lower than the government's estimated RM17 billion.

During the week, Samy Vellu had spoken about the project, revealing that Ircon submitted a fresh bid for 70 percent of infrastructure work on the northern grid, a job that was initially promised to them.

After reported talks with Ircon and Indian government officials, Samy Vellu said the new bid was much lower and more agreeable to the government.

If this deal goes through, he said, it would be on a government-to-government basis using a nominated contract which means that Ircon will be paid directly by the government instead of through Gamuda-MMC JV - the main contractor.

"I'm very sure the government is sympathetic towards Ircon. Let the parties discuss the sub-contract work and come to an agreement," he said today.

When pressed further on details of the Ircon's bid and the nature of ongoing discussions, Samy Vellu declined to comment.

"I don't want to talk about Gamuda-MMC. All I'm saying is you should ask the transport minister these questions, not me. That is the ministry which is in charge of this project."

The background

The double-tracking and electrification project forms part of an ambitious 5,500-km trans-Asia railway line which will connect Singapore with southern China.

The multi-billion ringgit deal was originally promised to Ircon and a Chinese consortium under a government-to-government deal involving a barter trade of some eight million tonnes of palm oil worth RM12 billion over a period of five to six years.

The table was turned against both on grounds of overpricing when the final bid stood at RM19.7 billion. Gamuda-MMC's winning bid was RM14.5 billion.

The 287-km stretch southern grid, linking Seremban to Johor Baru, was also promised to China Railway Engineering and Telecommunications (Cret) earlier.

But it is not known if the three letters of intent have been revoked by the government, given the change in players now.

Meanwhile, industry sources said Siemens AG submitted a fresh bid two days ago ranging between RM4.4 billion and RM4.6 billion for systems works comprising signalling and communications.

The last bid for systems works promised to Japan's Mitsui & Co through a letter of intent was RM5.9 billion.

Mitsui's pre-crisis international partners were Siemens and UK's Balfour Beatty. However, since then, Siemens has decided to go it alone following a mutual agreement with Mitsui.

It is now competing with Mitsui, which is believed to have also submitted a lower, fresh bid for the specialised systems works contract on Nov 21.

Mitsui and Siemens have both declined to confirm this.