SHAH ALAM: Training Ships delayed again. The never ending saga of the two RMN training ships, PCU Gagah Samudera and Teguh Samudera, continues. Malaysian Defence had reported before that Gagah is expected to be commissioned soon and the navy even fixed the date for it, Nov. 14.
Two weeks before that however, Malaysian Defence have to report that Gagah commissioning has been postponed. Malaysian Defence was not told the reason for the delay but it appears that it will take a while as no one will even dare estimate the new commissioning date.
Several months ago Malaysian Defence was told that Boustead Naval Shipyard had decided not to bid for the job to complete the two training ships following surveys on both the ships. The surveys, Malaysian Defence was told concluded that both ships were not in a good shape and it will take more money and time to complete them.
In short, the funds allocated for the completion was too low and the deadline was too tight for them to make any profit from the project. Initially I thought this was just idle talk from officials who lost a tender but it appears that the continuing travails over the two ships seemed to justify the BNS decision not to bid for the project.
For the record, Grade One Marine Shipyard Sdn Bhd in Lumut, was awarded the deal to complete the two ships.
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