Astral Supreme loses Penang undersea tunnel job

PETALING JAYA: Zenith PMC Sdn Bhd has terminated its joint venture with Astral Supreme Construction Sdn Bhd (ASC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Astral Supreme Bhd, to carry out a feasibility study and design of the ambitious Penang-Butterworth undersea tunnel, after it failed to secure consultants who could undertake the project within the budget and the funding requirements.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia on Friday the group said its subsidiary had failed to obtain an extension of the time to start the project from Zenith PMC.
"Zenith PMC has to meet the milestones set by the Penang State Government in regards to the feasibility studies and design for the project. ASC's appeal for further delay in the commencement of the project was declined by Zenith PMC and hence the termination. With the termination of JVA, ASC shall not be able to derive contributions from the guaranteed profit under the JVA as announced on Aug 15, 2013.
The news comes just days after Astral Supreme announced that it had started legal proceedings against its ex-managing director Ong Tai Chin @ Wong Tai Chin for causing the company to suffer a total of RM15.51 million losses.
Astral Supreme also will start a second investigate review on the group this year today, this time around focusing on retroactive review of transactions, company records, management accounts, perceptive interviews and personnel files of selected staff. The review is to be completed in two months.
The stock closed 5% lower on Friday at 18 sen.