Hishammuddin confident mobilisation works on LCS project will be completed by year-end

Senior Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein is confident mobilisation works on the littoral combat ship (LCS) project will be completed by year-end as scheduled.

Hishammuddin said full details of the mobilisation development would be announced by him soon.

He said that as of Tuesday, the ministry had succeeded in restoring ties with local and foreign project suppliers and vendors.

“The Defence Ministry has also begun discussions with banks involved in the project after the government decided that the LCS construction project should go on.

“It is hoped the mobilisation would meet our needs and go on to build the first ship,” the minister told a news conference after visiting the Tuanku Mizan Armed Forces Hospital in Wangsa Maju.

Also present were Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin and Chief of Army General Zamrose Mohd Zain.

In August, the ministry was given six months to mobilise efforts to revive the project, and it was believed the first ship would be delivered to the navy in two years.

In the same month, Public Accounts Committee revealed that not even one LCS had been completed, even though the contract worth RM6.083 billion provided for five of the six ships to be completed and handed over by August this year.

On Aug 11, the MACC announced that it had completed an investigation paper against several individuals linked to allegations of misappropriation in handling the LCS construction project.

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