KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd (MRL) is utilising three of the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project base camps in East Coast states as industry vaccination centres (PPVINs) to facilitate the exclusive vaccination of about 6,500 personnel and field workers.
In a statement today, MRL said this initiative would further accelerate the Covid-19 vaccination process involving the construction and transportation sectors.
Ministry of Transport Malaysia secretary general Datuk Isham Ishak said the ECRL base camps at Dungun and Chukai in Terengganu as well as at Maran in Pahang would operate as PPVINs in line with the National Recovery Plan’s strategy of returning the country’s economic sectors back to normalcy towards year-end.
“MRL, as project owner of the ECRL, is pleased that the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) has recently granted approval for three ECRL base camps to operate as PPVINs and also allocated adequate supply of vaccine for the ECRL workforce.
“The approval paves the way for ECRL personnel to receive their first dose within the month,” he said.
He said MRL together with the ECRL project’s main contractor, China Communications Construction (ECRL) Sdn Bhd, would bear all the costs involved in the vaccination of the ECRL workforce which include the setup charges for PPVINs and administrative fees for private medical general practitioners and healthcare personnel.
MRL said the vaccination exercise is to be carried out at the ECRL Dungun base camp on Aug 16-18 and ECRL Chukai base camp on Aug 16-17 while ECRL Maran base camp is also expected to kick off soon.
“It is crucial for the ECRL project’s workforce to be immunised at the soonest as it will have a positive impact on the project which currently operates at 164 priority locations inclusive of excavation works of 10 tunnels.
“The number of priority locations is anticipated to surge to 338 locations inclusive of 27 tunnels when the project’s construction reaches its peak in year 2022,” it said. — Bernama
