KVMRT3 missing from 13MP, but sector still poised for strong growth
Notable 'megaprojects' in the 13MP are port related, from which Muhibbah Engineering, IJM and WCT ought to benefit.
Other notable projects involve water, flood mitigation, industrial parks, highways, roads and hospitals, from which IJM, Gamuda and WCT ought to benefit the most.
Cahya Mata Sarawak gets a special mention too. We were positively surprised by the MYR611 bil development expenditure (DE) allocated to the 13MP.
Although only MYR430 bil will be financed by the government, it is still 8% higher than the MYR400 bil DE allocated to the 12MP.
This bids well for the construction sector in terms of the number and value of jobs to be awarded from 2026 to 2030.
Recall that the 12MP DE of MYR400 bil was 54% higher than the 11MP DE of MYR260 bil. Thus, we believe the 13MP is positive for the Malaysian construction industry.
We were rather underwhelmed that the KVMRT3 line was not mentioned in the 13MP despite positive vibes 2 weeks ago.
Recall that KVMRT1 and KVMRT2 yielded huge jobs of MYR21 bil and MYR31 bil respectively.
Other projects mentioned like the East Coast Rail Link, Gemas-Johor Bahru Double Track, Iskandar Region Elevated Autonomous Rapid Transit and Mutiara Line Light Rail Transit Project have been well flagged with the former 2 in advanced stages of completion.
Carey Island cargo port, Westports 2 expansion and Port of Tanjung Pelepas expansion were mentioned. We estimate that they could avail a whopping MYR45.5 bil worth of jobs.
Potential beneficiaries of the port 'megaprojects' are Muhibbah Engineering, IJM and WCT.
Other than ports, the 13MP also mentioned many potential water, flood mitigation, industrial parks, highway and road and hospital projects.
We flag 18 potential beneficiaries, which is by no means exhaustive. In our view, potential beneficiaries which are likely to benefit the most from the aforementioned projects are IJM, Gamuda and WCT.
These three companies have the experience and expertise to construct most of the aforementioned infrastructure assets.
We also flag Cahya Mata Sarawak as a prime beneficiary of continued infrastructure investments in Sarawak. —Aug 1, 2025
Main image: Bernama
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