Friday, Nov 07, 2008

November 06, 2008 19:01 PM

Nehemiah To Go For Listing When Time Is Right

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 (Bernama)- Home-grown company, Nehemiah Reinforced Soil Sdn Bhd is aiming for a listing on Bursa Securities in the next few years.

"We plan to raise capital through the capital market when time permits. At the moment, every market seems volatile," its managing director, Dr Ir Nehemiah Lee told Bernama recently.

"We have a plan to spread our wings to other parts of the world, including Hong Kong, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Vietnam," he said.

The company's Reinforced Soil technology is a homegrown technology while Dr Lee is the patent holder.

It specialises in the design, supply and construction of its own patented proprietary retaining wall system called Nehemiah Anchored Earth Wall.

Since its inception in 1993, Nehemiah Reinforced Soil has grown by leaps and bounds and has exported its technology overseas to Singapore, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India.

"We will begin to export our technology in a big way from next year onwards," he added.

Besides Malaysia, Dr Lee also holds a patent for Nehemiah Wall in Australia, India, and Korea.

"It is interesting that Australia is using our technology. With this, we are saying that local company is now capable of exporting its technology overseas," said Dr Lee.

The company's staff strength comprises 60 experienced and highly competent engineers and project coordinators, with most of them being Bumiputeras.

It provides engineering services to assist in the design computations, analysis and preparation of drawings from design concepts to the final construction drawings.

Nehemiah also gives assistance in the preparation of material and construction specifications, besides technical advice and assistance during construction.

Nehemiah Reinforced Soil posted a revenue of RM39 million in 2007, RM22 million in 2006 and RM19 million in 2005.

Its profit is in the range of about 10 percent of the revenue.

Some of its major clients include MMC Corp, Gamuda Bhd, IJM Corp, MTD Capital and Sunrise Group.

The Nehemiah Wall technology has been mostly employed in projects like highway interchanges, bridge abutments and highways going through mountainous terrain like KL-Karak highway and Second East-West highway.

Nehemiah Wall will be also applied to some cross-section of a railway embankment for the MMC-Gamuda double tracking railway project.

The tallest Nehemiah Wall ever in Malaysia was built in Cameron Highland, with a height of 20.5 meters.

According to Dr Lee, Nehemiah Wall was more cost effective compared to conventional types of earth retaining structures.

"The cost savings can be as much as 30 percent depending on the height of the wall and the prevailing subsoil condition."

The time taken for construction of a wall is much faster than for conventional earth retaining structures as casting of panels can be independently done while site preparation and foundation work is going on.

"The erection of the wall can proceed simultaneously with the back filling, thus saving valuable time up to half a required time.

"Only a few skilled and semi-skilled labourers are needed. The construction procedure is highly mechanized and hence the time required for erection is short," Dr Lee explained.

Nehemiah Reinforced Soil claimed that it is a market leader in the local reinforced soil technology with about 45 percent market share, overtaking even foreign player Reinforced Earth.

"There are less than 10 players in this industry, globally," said Dr Lee.

The Nehemiah group of companies includes Nehemiah Asia Sdn Bhd, Nehemiah Reinforced Soil Sdn Bhd, Nehemiah Slope Repair Sdn Bhd, Anchored Earth Sdn Bhd, Cribwall (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, and MBN-Anchored Earth Ltd (India).

The companies focus on a specialised sector of the construction industry.

-- BERNAMA

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