BNS to give full co-operation on LCS project completion

KUALA LUMPUR: Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS) has offered its full co-operation to the authorities to implement all necessary measures to ensure that the littoral combat ship (LCS) project will be completed in the interest of national defence.

In a statement today, the company said it wholly supports the authorities to take stern action against any parties involved in the wrongdoing following the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report.

The LCS negotiation started in 2011 and BNS is currently managed by a new leadership that is "very committed to move forward" with the project, BNS said.

The company said it has been "working relentlessly" to engage and negotiate with the original equipment manufacturers and its vendors to finalise the project's forward planning as desired and required by the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) during the current six-month mobilisation period.

BNS is also working very closely with the special governance committee (jawatankuasa tadbir urus khas), co-chaired by the Treasury and Defence Ministry's secretaries-general, to ensure that the RMN will receive the LCSs which are very much needed assets, the statement said.

Meanwhile, BNS has also implemented various initiatives under the on-going transformation programme to strengthen its business operations.

"Besides organisational restructuring, as well as recruiting new talents and calibrating existing resources, we have enhanced the use of digitalisation, especially in project management to eliminate leakages, and to ensure integrity and transparency in carrying out the mandate given by the government.

"In the heart of all these efforts is our utmost priority to beef up the strength of the RMN in safeguarding the security of national waters, while at the same time ensuring that the well-being and the interests of all the stakeholders of this project are protected," the company said.

-- BERNAMA