This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on January 13, 2025 - January 19, 2025

EPE Power Corp Bhd, a private holding company with businesses in distributing switchgears and transformers, is among the potential bidders for the proposed Johor Bahru light rail transit (LRT) project.

According to sources privy to the matter, EPE Power will be collaborating with Lion Pacific Sdn Bhd, a well-known civil engineering group with expertise in railway works, to bid for the project.

This means that another reshuffling of consortium partners is in the works, as Lion Pacific was initially understood to be part of the consortium comprising YTL Power International Bhd (KL:YTLPOWR), SIPP Rail Sdn Bhd and Mobilus Sdn Bhd.

This raises the question of whether YTL Power–SIPP–Mobilus is still in the running for the Johor Bahru LRT project.

Last October, Theta Edge Bhd (KL:THETA) announced that it would be partnering Nylex (M) Bhd (KL:NYLEX), a subsidiary of Ancom Nylex Bhd (KL:ANCOMNY), in the proposed Mobility-as-a-Service project for the Johor Bahru metropolitan region. The project consists of an LRT system for the city, complemented by an automated rapid transit (ART) system.

Prior to that, Theta Edge was understood to be in a consortium with YTL Power and SIPP.

“Changes in consortium partners are usual in this kind of proposal, especially because this project was proposed by the private sector, rather than a government tender,” an industry observer tells The Edge.

However, it is worth noting that only consortium partners that were previously known to be in partnership with YTL Power have been jumping ship.

Not much is known about EPE Power, except that the company is owned by businessman and politician Datuk Seri Dr Erwan Mohd Tahir.

He is known to be a politician who had defected from Umno to join Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, before rejoining the grand ole Malay nationalist party in October 2021. He was the head of Bersatu’s Putrajaya chapter prior to his departure back to Umno.

When he announced that he was returning to Umno in 2021, Putrajaya Bersatu said that he had not been with the party since October 2020, after he failed in his bid to become the vice-president of the party.

Apart from being a politician and the owner of EPE Power, Erwan is also the chairman of security services company SRT Security Services Sdn Bhd as well as the largest shareholder of mattress producing company SweetDream Lifestyle Sdn Bhd.

Another party bidding for the Johor Bahru LRT project is a consortium comprising LBS Bina Group Bhd (KL:LBS), Ancom, Theta Edge, Sinar Bina Infra Sdn Bhd and BTS Group Holdings PCL.

The LBS–Ancom–Sinar Bina–BTS consortium had earlier proposed to develop an 11.3km LRT line between the Bukit Chagar station (located close to a planned new Immigration, Customs and Quarantine [ICQ] facility) — where it would interchange with the Johor Bahru–Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) — and Taman Tasek on the western side of the city. The consortium has not proposed a system beyond this initial stretch.

However, with Theta Edge joining the fray, the consortium is believed to be submitting a more comprehensive solution to Johor Bahru’s traffic issues, with the addition of an ART system on the outskirts of the city centre.

Meanwhile, YTL Power–SIPP–Mobilus had proposed the ART system for the entire project.

While these are the competing proposals, it is not known what system is being proposed by EPE Power–Lion Pacific.

What is clear is that once the RTS is completed in December 2026, there must be a system to disperse the traffic from the Bukit Chagar station because the system is expected to carry 10,000 passengers per direction per day.

According to sources privy to the governmental efforts to build a modern public transport system in Johor Bahru, a committee consisting of various state and federal government agencies was formed to look at the existing infrastructure in the region, and how to improve its traffic.

A recommendation was purportedly made to the cabinet on Johor Bahru’s urban mobility. This includes upgrading the existing Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB) rail line between Kulai and Johor Bahru into a commuter rail line.

“I think given the limited time that we have [to the completion of the RTS], the government should prioritise the upgrading of the KTMB line, so that at least traffic to the north of the city can be addressed,” says one observer of the development of the project.

Other recommendations were for four urban mobility lines (whether ART or LRT) and an East-West line between Port of Tanjung Pelepas and Johor Port in Pasir Gudang by upgrading the existing cargo rail line owned by KTMB into a commuter rail line.

The committee also recommended the use of buses as first-and-last-mile connections.

The four urban mobility lines proposed are from Iskandar Puteri to Johor Bahru (Iskandar Puteri Line), Tebrau to Johor Bahru (Tebrau Line), Skudai to Johor Bahru (Skudai Line) and a line within Johor Bahru city itself.

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