KUALA LUMPUR: It has come down to a two-horse race between a consortium made up of Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB), partnering South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem Co, against another one consisting of DRB-Hicom Bhd, teaming up with sister company Malakoff Corp Bhd and Japan’s Sumitomo Corp, to build the RM800 million 1,000-tonne-per-day incinerator in Taman Beringin, Kepong, sources familiar with the matter told The Edge Financial Daily.

Another bidder, Cenviro Sdn Bhd (formerly UEM Environment Sdn Bhd) in partnership with Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, is understood to be out of the running.

A winner is supposed to be announced in March, but nothing has been confirmed thus far.

The delay could also be due to the Kepong incinerator project getting considerable flak, after residents complained about environmental risk, among others.

“The cabinet was supposed to discuss the incinerator project about six weeks ago, but nothing has been brought up thus far. There should be an announcement soon,” said one source.

It is not clear if the project will be discussed in Parliament today.

Certain quarters say the MRCB-led consortium is the front runner, while others vouch for the DRB-Hicom and Malakoff-led team bagging the job.

Nevertheless, the MRCB- Hyundai Rotem consortium is understood to have a lower tipping fee (lowest charge), and its proposal involves a build, operate and transfer model.

Neither one of the two remaining consortia wanted to comment on the matter.

It is also noteworthy that this is the second time bids are being called, as an earlier tender process in 2015 was scrapped, as the MRCB-Hyundai Rotem consortium was the only one to submit a final proposal for the waste-to-energy incinerator project, after more than 30 companies expressed interest to build the incinerator.

DRB-Hicom and Malakoff are both controlled by billionaire Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary.

Syed Mokhtar owns 55.92% of DRB-Hicom, while Malakoff is 37.58% controlled by MMC Corp Bhd, a 51.76%-owned unit of his, which is also his flagship company.

MRCB, meanwhile, is a 39.37%-owned unit of the Employees Provident Fund. Other substantial shareholders include Gapurna Sdn Bhd (16.96%), vehicle of MRCB group managing director Tan Sri Mohamad Salim Fateh Din, and Lembaga Tabung Haji (8.24%).