Gamuda—a Malaysian infrastructure company cofounded by tycoon Lin Yun Ling—said Monday it has taken the lead in building a 187.5-megawatt hydroelectric plant in Sabah, Malaysia to help boost the Southeast Asian nation’s green energy capacity.
The project, which will cost 4 billion ringgit ($841 million) to build, will be undertaken by joint venture company Upper Padas Power (UPP). Gamuda will hold a 45% stake in UPP, while its partners Sabah Energy Corp. and Kerjaya Kagum Hitech will hold 40% and 15% stakes, respectively.
The hydroelectric plant can deliver up to 1,052 gigawatt hours of clean energy per annum when completed in 2029. “Sabah currently only has less than 12% reserve margin of electricity supply and coupled with increasing demand by the industrial sector for green energy, there is a need to further increase electricity generation to ensure a stable base load,” Gamuda said in a regulatory filing to Bursa Malaysia.
Founded in 1976 by Lin (who remains Gamuda’s managing director) and partner Koon Yew Yin as a construction company, Gamuda has since grown to become one of Malaysia’s largest infrastructure and real estate companies. Among its major projects is the Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel built in partnership with billionaire Syed Mokhtar AlBukhary’s MMC Corp in 2007 in Kuala Lumpur. The dual-purpose tunnel serves as an alternative route to and from the city, while helping to divert excess flood water during typhoons.
Gamuda has also been expanding overseas and has implemented projects across Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, the U.K. and Vietnam. It recently won the 3.45 billion ringgit contract to build the civil engineering works for the yellow line of the Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit in Taiwan.
