SHAH ALAM: MMEA’s OPVs delayed. Home Minister DS Hamzah Zainuddin has confirmed that the MMEA’s three OPVs built by TH Heavy Engineering Bhd are delayed, though he did not reveal the new deliveries dates for them.
Hamzah was reported by Bernama as saying that the first OPV – Tun Fatimah – was expected to be delivered this year with the second one in 2023 and the third in 2024. He said the three vessels should have been delivered two years ago but cited the company’s (the name of the company was not mentioned in the Bernama report) inability to complete them as the reason for the delay. The minister was speaking to the media after attending the MMEA’s anniversary on February 15, at the RMN Hydrography Centre in Pulau Indah, located next to the THHE Fabricators yard where the OPVs are built.
Malaysian Defence has reported on various occasions regarding the delay since the contract for the THHE (now no longer a subsidiary of the Tabung Haji – now part of Urusharta Jamaah Sdn Bhd, a Finance Ministry company) surfaced in 2017.THHE Destini Secures MMEA OPV Contract. It appears that both shipbuilding contracts awarded to local companies by the then Najib administration have been proven to be failures. The other one.
THHE has been in the news lately for its financial troubles which appears to be the main reason for the delays in delivering the OPVs. Recently, it announced the appointment of a new CEO to put the sail back in its shipyard venture.
I was told that work on the OPVs had only resumed recently – after CNY – as the company’s financial difficulties forced it to stop work temporarily, though I am not sure for how long. And I have no idea when the first OPV is supposed to be launch.
— Malaysian Defence
Malaysia boleh
although the intention was good but again and again similar failure. Future ships must be built outside Malaysia.
I read somewhere that the reason for the delay is due to non payment by the government ? Can anyone clarify
As expected on early post with number of reasonsssss. Salah Najib again? Come on, neither one of it will do well, atuk M, uncle M, uncle A will be same. We just wasting our time and money. Hope we do not repeat it again for LCA.
Guess they should stick with building the NGPC-sized vessel than the larger OPV-sized vessel
Faizal – . ”Future ships must be built outside Malaysia”
Firstly the circumstances behind this delay differs to that of the LCS.
Secondly if the right company is awarded the contract, there is effective oversight and realistic goals are set, there is absolutely no reason why ships can’t be delivered on time, on spec and within budget…
Perhaps before making hasty conclusions, looking at the specific reasons behind this delay can provide a more accurate picture.
If they missed any milestones as stipulated by the contract the government won’t pay them
Yes but this and the LCS projects were in his watch
It was reported here that the first opv is completed but can’t be launched because some rubble is blocking its launch. Hopefully thatbis so and we can get at least one ship this year.
Weird for an MoF company facing financial troubles since those companies taken from Tabung Haji in exchange for cash amd tied to a sukuk issuance.
Yes on the sukuk but it must remembered that the company has a lot of debts to settle from its previous O&G business
Just build the warships in Sarawak. It may sound ‘assabiyah’ or jingoistic but ships build will probably be ready on time.
“Yes but this and the LCS projects were in his watch”
Yes and no? LCS was kinda murky but the builds seemed to be progressing per planned until BN’s ouster and the whole project was put on freeze. I do blame him for deciding to build all 6 locally, for agreeing to let BNS redesign the ship, and if it was ascertained he purposely underbudgeted the LCS project just to quietly pad it later. But to blame him for all that shit is clearly unfair when the project freeze by PH had inadvertently increase its cost.
Now for MMEA ships I can’t see it was his fault either. The NGPC builds which ran almost the whole time he was in charge had no delivery issues (3 delivered in his time and 2 after, left 1 in trial), and this OPV had been going smoothly until it was time for launch when they found out it was blocked due to slipway debris. Can we blame him for not knowing there was debris…. erm, well its the season to blame him for everything right?
But in his time other than half of Bagan Datuks, the long delayed Gagahs, KA Tun Azizan, KA Bunga Mas 5 & 6, and 2 ex-JCG MMEA patrol boats were also successfully delivered.
THHE’s problem appears to be simple. They are cashflow tight and if they could make delivery of the 1st unit, the Govt will pay up and it would enable them to continue delivering the 2nd, and with cash rolling then the 3rd unit.
@Taib
If the company was missmanaged or the issues were beyond their control, it doesn’t matter where they ships were built. It could be built in Holland and still faced problems of delays. It is obviously a political decision to give it to THHE-Destini but its not like they lacked the technical capability to build them, seeing as NGPC project is near success and OPV 1st unit was pretty much ready for launch.
NGPC is under Destini. They roped in Destini back in 2017 as THHE has no experience in ship building
No more awarding contracts due to connections. Should only give to realky capable companies. Otherwise just buy them complete from overseas
Taib – Just build the warships in Sarawak
The ships can be built anywhere….
The issue is that there must be oversight, a,clear and realistic goal and tv yard must not only be in a sound financial position but also have the actual capability. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in Sarawak but anywhere which fits the criterion.