George Kent up, MRCB down after getting LRT 3 go ahead

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB) which was the most active counter at early trade, fell as much as 3.14% to 77sen despite getting the green light from the government for the Light Rail Transit Line 3 (LRT3) project.
At 11.18am, the stock was trading at 78.50sen with 51.84 million shares done.
Meanwhile, George Kent (Malaysia) Bhd, part of the joint venture of MRCB George Kent Sdn Bhd handling the project, rose as much as 7.89% to RM1.23 this morning.
George Kent was the fifth most active counter this morning.
At 11.18am, the stock was trading at RM1.21 with 21.96million shares done.
The government has agreed for the project to continue at a total cost of RM16.60 billion under a fixed price contract regime.
The RM16.60 billion includes land acquisition costs, interest payments during construction and other costs, while the implementation concept will be remodeled from a project delivery partner (PDP) to a fixed price contract.
To recap, George Kent and Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB) were appointed the PDP of LRT3 on Sept 4, 2015 at an approved construction budget of RM9 billion.
In March, Prasarana requested an additional RM22 billion in government guarantee to ensure funding for the construction and completion of LRT3. This was on top of a RM10 billion bond facility guaranteed by the government in 2015.
However, in July, the Finance Ministry said it would not support additional funding for the 37km project unless Prasarana cut the cost of the project, which was estimated to rise to as high as RM31.45 billion.