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RM185 million MySikap Contract Through Open Tender – Loke

The RM185.07mil contract awarded to Heitech Padu Bhd for MySikap was through open tender, said Transport Minister Anthony Loke.

The contract is for the maintenance of the Road Transport Department’s (JPJ) MySikap website. It was awarded to the said company as their bid was the lowest and most reasonable.

Anthony Loke said a submission awarding the three-year contract to the firm for the amount was sent to the Finance Ministry and was approved by the Treasury on Feb 2. The letter of acceptance was issued by JPJ to Heitech Padu on April 5.

He dismissed claims that the contract was given to the company as one of its major shareholders is Farhash Wafa Salvador, who is Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s former political secretary.

Loke said Farhash had acquired 15.9% of the firm’s shares only on March 16 this year. “This means he acquired the shares after the contract was awarded to the company on Feb 2 and not before it secured the project.

“As emphasised by the Prime Minister, after Farhash acquired the shares in the company, there has been no other government contract offered to Heitech Padu till this day,” he said in a press conference at the Transport Ministry here yesterday.

Loke said Anwar and the Cabinet viewed very seriously the insinuations by certain parties that the contract was awarded to Heitech Padu due to the prime minister’s close ties with Farhash.

“Farhash is no longer with the government and is not serving the government in any capacity.

“If there are parties who are still dissatisfied with this clarification, the Prime Minister welcomes them to lodge a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission for a thorough investigation,’’ he added.

Loke disclosed that two other companies that met the technical and financial prerequisites had also vied for the contract with bids of RM186.8mil and RM199.5mil. He said the ceiling price for the contract was RM207.3mil.

The contract was for a three-year term as it is deemed a new contract, instead of an extension.

“Usually, maintenance contracts are long term. This is a new contract and not an extension of contract. If it is an extension then it will be on a year-to-year basis,” he said.

The contract comprised two job scopes, namely MySikap and Mainframe. MySikap was an online platform offering various services such as vehicle registration, road tax and driving licence renewals, while Mainframe provided servers to store data from MySikap.

In March 2023, JPJ decided to merge both components to a single tender and for it to be overseen by a single company for more effective monitoring and management.

Fuel Subsidies Cut will Begin this Year

The Minister of Economy, Rafizi Ramli stated that the reduction of fuel subsidies will begin this year.

He said the move is to reduce the country’s fiscal deficit in an interview with Bloomberg last Tuesday.

He also said the move was needed to “manage the sequence” of subsidy cuts, given the risk of inflation rising before the cuts are implemented. Since last year, Rafizi said he wanted to implement the RON95 subsidy program which was targeted in the second half of 2024 so that it would be delivered to those who needed it. For now, the T20 group is taking the opportunity to receive 53 percent of the existing oil subsidy system.

Of the RM81 billion subsidy budget for 2023, the subsidy for RON95 petrol has taken up a large portion of it.

During the interview, he said the government plans to reduce the budget deficit to 4.3 percent of gross domestic product this year, up from 5 percent in 2023.

“To achieve the fiscal target of 4.3 percent, certain timelines need to be adhered to,” said the Pandan Member of Parliament.

Our opinion is that the government must have a mechanism to reduce the impact of fuel price increases in the future because there will be parties who take the opportunity to increase the prices of other goods. Withdrawal of subsidies from those who do not need it is a good move but it must be done carefully so that the less fortunate are not affected.

Ducati to use Thailand as Export Hub

Ducati to use Thailand one of their export hubs. The decision follows the opening their first and new Asian production factory in Rayong.

The 400-million-baht plant has the production capacity of 10,000 units per year in the first phase.

Chief Executive of Ducati Motor Holding, Claudio Domenicali said, “Thailand is an important market for premium motorcycles, or big bikes, and we want to make Thailand our export base.”

“We produce every model of Ducati motorcycles at our plant in Rayong. We ensure the products meet high standards set by the parent firm in Italy,” he added.

The factory will be overseen by Ducati Motor Thailand and will supply the Asia-Pacific market. China was once Ducati’s key market but has seen sales slide due to an economic downturn.

Ducati sold a nearly 58,000 motorcycles last year but have yet to set a sales target for 2024. The sales volume will be determined by demand growth and market sentiments, said Mr Domenicali.

Nevertheless, sales of large capacity motorcycles in Thailand is set to increase.

Surapong Paisitpatanapong, vice-chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) and spokesman for the FTI’s Automotive Industry Club, expects sales of big bikes (motorcycles above 400cc) to hit 15,000 units this year. He also said that production will also increase to supply both domestic and international markets.

Production of all types of motorcycles in Thailand rose by 5.2% year-on-year to 2.12 million units in 2023, with 1.7 million of them for export, according to the Thai Automotive Industry.

Thailand is already the hotbed for several major automotive and motorcycle manufactures including BMW, Honda, Kawasasi, Suzuki, and Yamaha.

In an interview with Triumph during a visit, we found out that the decision to set up these manufacturing facilities in Thailand is not due to labour costs, which is in fact higher than at neighbouring countries. Instead it is due to the automotive supply infrastructure in place at Rayong.

Source: Bangkok Post

Insta360 X4 with 8K Video Recording Launched

The Insta360 X4 has been launched and boasts 8K video recording, among other great features.

The Insta360 action camera is one of the most popular ever since its launch, allowing users to open up a 360-degree dimension of recording their exploits, from motorcyclists and powersports to just about any sports.

As the title says, it now shoots up to 8K30fps resolution, and you could also shoot slo-mo videos at 4K100fps. Apart from that, the Insta360 X4 supports Cardo, Sena, or other Bluetooth communicators for voice control. Think about motovlogging without an extra microphone or cable.

The unit is, of course, waterproof up to 33 feet without a waterproof case. In any case, the company offers regular and premium lens guards.

They have also upped the battery life, too, claiming that it now lasts up to 135 minutes in Video Mode at 5.7K30fps. Recording in 8K30fps yields 75 minutes.

A bigger battery brings the weight to 203 grams, up 23 grams from the X3.

Other motorcycle-oriented features include an Auto Dash Mode that begins recording as soon as you start riding. Loop Recording records continuously over a predetermined length and overwrites the files, perfect for everyday riding.

There’s also a new Motion ND mode in both the app and the desktop Insta360 Studio program so you can get that cool motion blur effect on your shots with no extra filters required.

The Insta360 X4 can be paired with both Garmin and Apple watches so you can add data and/or overlays to your recordings.

If you like using a wired connection from your action camera to your Android or iOS devices, please note that the X4 only supports wired connections for Android. However, wireless support is available for both devices.

Roads are not Enough for Number of Vehicles – Expert

Road congestion especially during the festive season is due to the insufficient length of the existing roads to accommodate the large number of vehicles, said Traffic and Road Safety Psychologist, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Prof. Dr Rozmi Ismail. He also said that many other roads (not highways) only have one lane.

“If something like an accident happens, road users have nowhere to ‘run’ and they will be stuck with the congestion. They have to deal with it.

“Then, in most cities or towns, the roads are being repaired. For example in Gua Musang. It adds to the large number of vehicles causing further congestion,” he added.

He commented on the complaints of road users who had to travel for more than 10 hours when returning to the capital after celebrating Aidilfitri last year.

Apart from that, he also touched on the toll payment method and suggested that there are more effective payment systems. “For example, the user has already paid before going to a certain place. Say I want to go to Penang, I have already paid. This is to avoid these vehicles lining up at the toll plaza. That queue causes congestion too.”

Our comments:

Prof.’s summary Dr. Romzi is very good but there is another reason why the roads in Malaysia are getting more congested: The huge increase of new vehicles every day, month, and year. For example, almost 800,000 new vehicles were registered last year alone. The total length of roads in our country, including highways and paved and unpaved roads is 290,099 kilometers. But at the same time, there are 36.3 million active vehicles. That means there are 125 vehicles per kilometer.

The addition of roads and highways will not be able to accommodate the number of vehicles at any time, not to mention the construction of each highway takes a long time to complete. The construction project also adds to traffic congestion.

62.6 Million Motorcycles Sold Globally in 2023

A total of 62.6 million motorcycles were sold globally in 2023.

It represents the second best record after 2018. The sales volume also represents a 2.7% increase from 2022, and the third year of continuous growth after seeing a sharp decrease in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Once again, it was the Asian market that drove the increase.

India contributed the highest number of sales, and an increase of 9.1% among their local manufacturers TVS Motor, Royal Enfield, Bajaj Auto, and Hero. Several other non-Indian brands are also present in the country through partnerships with the local manufactures such as BMW, Triumph, Norton, KTM, et al.

The second biggest market was, no surprise, Indonesia which grew by another 20.2% despite already having the highest number of motorcycles there.

Although these markets grew, several Asian countries showed downturns, as well. Sales dropped in China by -2.4%, Vietnam by -18.1%, and Pakistan a huge -32.7%.

Other growing global markets included Brazil by 21.3%, who ranked 7th globally and the largest in Latin America motorcycle market. Turkey saw an astounding 117.9% growth, moving it to 11th place in the world.

The data was collated by MotorCycles Data who track sales in more than 90 countries. They track actual deliveries to buyers rather than from manufacturers who claim their sales to their dealers.

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Latest News

RM185 million MySikap Contract Through Open Tender – Loke

Fuel Subsidies Cut will Begin this Year

Ducati to use Thailand as Export Hub

Insta360 X4 with 8K Video Recording Launched

Roads are not Enough for Number of Vehicles – Expert

Our comments:

62.6 Million Motorcycles Sold Globally in 2023

RM185 million MySikap Contract Through Open Tender – Loke

Fuel Subsidies Cut will Begin this Year

Ducati to use Thailand as Export Hub

Insta360 X4 with 8K Video Recording Launched

Roads are not Enough for Number of Vehicles – Expert

62.6 Million Motorcycles Sold Globally in 2023

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