Dear Friends,

Welcome to On-Track, Scomi's e-newsletter, featuring current news on urban transportation. This time we are proud to bring you coverage of the inauguration of the first four-car train for the Mumbai Monorail that Scomi designed and manufactured, our involvement in MONORAILEX 2010 and our latest project - the Bangalore Monorail. The news just keeps getting better so have a good read.

It was a proud moment indeed for staff of Scomi Group's manufacturing facility in North Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia when Ratnakar Gaikwad, Metropolitan Commissioner of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) previewed and inaugurated India's first four-car train for Mumbai on 21 June 2010. He did the honours on behalf of His Excellency Ashok Chavan, the Honourable Chief Minister of Maharashtra State, India.

The Mumbai Monorail project is a 20km route between Jacob Circle and Chembur with one central depot and about 18 user-friendly and highly secured stations. Each monorail comprising four coaches, can accommodate up to 600 passengers, enabling it to carry nearly 0.3 million commuters on a daily basis along the proposed route. The monorail is expected to be completed by 2011.

The Mumbai Monorail is also a green project as it saves 200 tonnes of CO2 a day on the monorail. The structure also does not obstruct much sunlight nor trap excessive emissions apart from being quieter than other modes of transportation.

Commenting on the inauguration of the first four-car train for India Ratnakar Gaikwad said inauguration ceremony was a significant moment for all Mumbaikars and Indians back home. "With the creditable work being done by the Scomi and Larsen & Tourbo consortium, we look forward to beginning operations of the Mumbai Monorail by mid-next year. It has been MMRDA's long-term goal to provide world-class infrastructure to Mumbaikars. We are confident that the Mumbai Monorail Project will complement Mumbaikars' commute by giving them a comfortable and safe mode of transportation," he added.

MMRDA was set up on 26 January 1975 under the MMRDA Act 1974 by the Government of Maharashtra as an apex body for the planning and co-ordination of development activities in the region. The Authority is responsible for the development of the Mumbai metropolitan region that comprises the megacity of Mumbai - the capital of Maharashtra State - and the rapidly growing hinterland.

Speaking of the inauguration, Syahrunizam Samsudin, President of Scomi Engineering said, "The Mumbai Monorail project is a significant and commendable step undertaken by the State Government of Maharashtra through the MMRDA to improve the traffic and transportation scenario in Mumbai. The timely completion of the first train is the culmination of the sheer hard work and determination demonstrated by the Scomi team who have worked relentlessly towards the accomplishment of this prestigious Mumbai Monorail Project. With our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility which undertakes in-house production and system testing, we look forward to meeting the global expectations entrusted upon us by our clients."

"We would like to take this opportunity to thank MMRDA for their unwavering support and guidance on the Mumbai Monorail project. After the successful trial-run of the first monorail car in Mumbai early this year, we have been steadily working towards meeting the project deadline set by our client. Scomi plans to complete and dispatch one train every month starting from July 2010 from our manufacturing facility in Malaysia. We will ensure that by early 2011, all the 15 trains for the Mumbai Monorail project shall be ready in Mumbai to begin trial runs before operations commence," continued Syahrunizam.

The world-class ISO 9001-certified manufacturing facility in the Rawang Industrial Zone, Malaysia (30 km from Kuala Lumpur) is capable of undertaking in-house production and system testing. The comprehensive facility is fully fitted with high-tech equipment necessary for various manufacturing needs.

This advanced facility enables the company to manufacture, repair and assemble various "rolling stock" and parts for the rail industry; for the production of their in-house monorail designs; and other types of rail vehicles of potential partners. In addition, the facility also serves as a testing centre where prototypes and finished products are placed under stringent testing methods to ensure quality meets set standards. The testing facility includes a 1km monorail test track built around 22-acres of land for in-house testing and improvisation.

Scomi is accelerating its continued growth as a world-leading manufacturer of innovative transportation solutions especially in monorail systems while focusing on emerging markets such as India, China, the Gulf States and Brazil. The Group also has plans to target other segments like low-floor city buses that run on CNG as a part of its complementary business model to contribute to the Indian urban transportation growth.

Peter Dennis of Scomi Rail and Kanesan Veluppillai of Scomi International presented papers at the 2010 MONORAILEX Conference and Trade Show (MONORAILEX 2010) at the Crowne Plaza Mutiara Hotel Kuala Lumpur from 2-4 June.

Organised by Brisk Events and supported by the International Monorail Association (IMA) and The Monorail Society (TMS), the event was also supported by Scomi Group Bhd, one of the first Founding Members of IMA.

As the world's only fully dedicated conference on monorail technology, MONORAILEX 2010 provides a platform for relevant industry participants to discuss, compare notes and learn more about the strategic, social and economic benefits of monorail technology.

Among those who attended the event were global public transportation solution providers as well as urban planning authorities and experts.

Kanesan Veluppillai, President of Scomi International and Executive Council Member of IMA said, "Hundreds of thousands of passengers are carried on monorails each day throughout the world. Monorails are known as one of the safest and most reliable public transportation systems. What's more it can be operated at relatively lower cost and as such, is a feasible urban transportation solution."

"In fact, the monorail system is acknowledged as one of the fastest growing urban transport solutions in many countries worldwide including Brazil, Saudi Arabia and India. Hence, MONORAILEX 2010 is an ideal avenue to enhance a greater understanding of this technology while creating a dynamic forum for all relevant quarters to congregate and network."

According to Kanesan, MONORAILEX 2010 marks the second year of its series and "Kuala Lumpur, being a fast-growing and dynamic city offers an ideal platform for this conference. More so as this city boasts a well-accepted Monorail system that runs parallel and complementary to other public transportation systems in the city."

MONORAILEX 2010 was opened to pre-registered participants and attracted politicians, metropolitan city authorities, public transport companies and consultants, OEM's and their suppliers as well as monorail experts. During the conference, participants were involved in various discussions and visited the Control and Service Centre of the KL Monorail. A select group was also personally invited to visit Scomi's North KL Facility in Rawang.

"Over the years, monorail technologies have undergone remarkable developments due to advances in R&D, materials and engineering capabilities. As such, with more comfortable, faster and better performing systems, the Monorail system will be able to solidify its position as a viable, cost efficient and sustainable public transportation solution for fast growing urban centres the world over," Kanesan concluded.

Speakers who presented papers at MONORAILEX 2010 were:

• Peter Dennis, Head of Rolling Stock Engineering, Scomi Rail

• Ralph Yew, Frost & Sullivan, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

• Sumitra Lyengar, IMA President, Geodesic, Bangalore, India

• Peter Keller, CEO, Derap AG, Heimberg, Switzerland

• Abdullah Sani Mohamad, Advisor, Safety & Security KL StarRail

• V. Kanesan, President, Scomi International

• Paul Tulp, International Monorail Consultant, Netherlands

• Jaap Ketel, Secretary International Monorail Association, Netherlands

Work on the first phase of the 59km Bangalore Monorail in India will begin in January 2011 now that Scomi Engineering has been given the green light by the state government of Karnataka in southern India.

To develop the monorail, Scomi Engineering formed a consortium with Bangalore-based civil engineering company Geodesic Techniques Pvt. Ltd. Scomi Engineering will provide technical expertise for the joint venture as the EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contractor.

The Bangalore Monorail project will be built in the state's capital Bengaluru or better known as Bangalore.

In a news report carried in The Edge, it was further stated that according to Sumitra Iyengar, Geodesic Techniques Director for Infrastructure and New Business Development, phase one of the project is a 15km line known as the green line that costs RM2.1 billion and will take 30 to 36 months to complete. The Bangalore Monorail system will consist of four lines.

Having gone through the various stages of approval by the authorities, and with the final approval obtained for the engineering and technical proposal (known as the detailed project report), the consortium can now submit its financial proposal for the project.

The monorail project will be implemented based on a private-public partnership concept, and the consortium is presently in talks with four parties to fund the project.

"It has been a long, hard road in Bangalore. Both Scomi and our partner Geodesic are happy that the Cabinet has approved the green line. We will now finalise the financial proposal," said Scomi International Pte Ltd President Kanesan Veluppillai.

Bangalore, the fifth largest city in India with a population of eight million, is also known as the "Silicon Valley of India".

"This is India's second monorail project and it is adopting the monorail at a faster pace than its regional peers. In fact, India is one of the first countries to recognise the importance of monorail projects by offering a special tax tariff for the construction of monorails," Sumitra told The Edge on the sidelines of the Monorailex 2010 conference in Kuala Lumpur in early June.

India's first monorail project in Mumbai is currently being constructed by Scomi and its partner Larsen and Toubro Ltd. The 20km project, worth RM1.85 billion and expected to be completed by mid 2011, links to Jacob Circle and Chembur with one central depot and 18 stations. Under this contract, Scomi will deliver 60 cars to make up 15 sets of four-car trains.

Kanesan says the group is also bidding for other projects in India, namely the second and third monorail lines in Mumbai and Pune.

"We are independently looking at getting more projects in other cities," says Sumitra when asked whether Geodesic will team up with Scomi to bid for more projects in India. She adds that India's monorail project market is valued at US$15 billion (RM49 billion).

Economists estimate that poor infrastructure takes off two percentage points from India's economic growth each year. According to The Wall Street Journal, the government estimates that 16,000km or 23% of the country's highways aren't fit to be driven on. In fact, the government has targeted US$500 billion in public and private spending for infrastructure from 2007 to 2012.

In Karnakata alone, the state currently invests 110 billion rupees (RM7.7 billion) per year, or 4.5% of its GDP, on infrastructure and has a target of investing about 9% of its GDP on the same for the next 10 years. Scomi has said it plans to bid for US$10 billion worth of monorail projects in India and Brazil this year, to be constructed over the next five years.

For Scomi, the fact that the Indian government is revving up its infrastructure spending is good news indeed, but it is also set to benefit from local infrastructure spending.

AmResearch Sdn Bhd in a 25 May report said Scomi is one of the frontrunners to win a tender for the expansion of the Kuala Lumpur monorail system from the present two-coach train to four coaches. The contract is said to be worth RM400 million. The research house attributes the potential win to Scomi's "expertise and track record". "There is also a possibility of the group getting a slice of signalling works for the extension of the Putra and LRT systems," it adds.

(Article Source : The Edge, Monday 7 June 2010, article entitled "Scomi to start work on Bengaluru Monorail by year-end")

The Government of India has approved a proposal by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to grant project import status to monorail projects for urban transport at a concessional basic duty of 5%. Simply put, the lower duty imports for equipment and parts will mean monorail work in big cities can be put on the fast track.

With more people living in urban areas, the Indian Government hiked allocations for the Urban Development Ministry that is funding numerous public transport projects including metros for big cities. The ministry's planned allocation has been increased to Rs 5,306.50 crore for 2010-11 from Rs 2,975.75 crore in the last fiscal year.

Metro projects across the country have been given top priority with significantly increased funds in Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai for their mass rapid transport systems.