KUALA LUMPUR: Scomi Engineering Bhd’s (SEB) manufacturing facility in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to be modelled after its main facility in Kuala Lumpur, is expected to strengthen the group’s position in the market. The 50 million real (RM56.8mil) facility, to be built on a 98,000-sq-m site, will be used to manufacture monorail trains, including rolling stock and bogies.
The site was awarded to SEB by the Sao Paulo state government in recognition of its commitment to develop Brazil’s urban transport infrastructure, SEB said in a statement on Saturday.
SEB held a ground-breaking ceremony for the facility, in Taubate, southeastern Brazil, on March 10, which was attended by Sao Paulo governor Geraldo Alckmin, Taubate mayor Jos Bernardo Ortiz Monteiro Jr and Sao Paulo city authorities officials. SEB was represented by its country president (Brazil operations) Hilmy Zaini Zainal.
“This investment is part of our strategy to localise manufacturing of monorail trains. This will help us improve manufacturing efficiency and boost local human capital development through job creation,” Hilmy said. All processes as well as manufacturing design would be in line with the Kuala Lumpur manufacturing centre.
The facility in Taubate is strategically located between the two most important Brazilian cities of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, with good access to major ports and road networks, he added.
“We have been in the Brazilian market for several years now. Since winning our maiden monorail contract for Line 17 – Gold, we have come a long way, garnering two more Brazilian projects, Manaus and Line 18 – Bronze. “We believe there is a lot more opportunities in Brazil which we can capitalise on and our commitment to this facility will strengthen our position in this market,” said Hilmy.
When operational, the facility would manufacture monorail trains for Line 17 – Gold and Line 18 – Bronze Sao Paulo projects and it will have the capacity to build metro and light rail trains. The facility will be built in phases and operations are scheduled to begin in 2017.
