KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14  -- Maybank Investment Bank Bhd’s research arm, Maybank IB Research has upgraded its view on Malaysia’s construction sector to 'positive’ on the expectation of a pick up in job awards this year.

In a note today, Maybank IB anticipated the value of new job awards to gradually pick up in 2020 with the East Coast Rail Line subcontracting packages in focus.

"With the 3-month long public display of the realignment of the Kota Bahru-Dungun stretch set to complete by Feb 2020, we believe tenders for the subcontracting civil work packages could start by the second quarter of 2020 with awards in the second half of 2020.

"We also expect awards of the remaining packages from the on-going projects in East Malaysia such as the Pan Borneo Sabah Highway, Sarawak Coastal and Second Link Road in 2020,” it said.

While the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail and Klang Valley MRT3 remained as wildcards at this juncture, any announcement of their revival in 2020 will excite the market, the research house said.

"We are upbeat on the sector’s outlook in 2020, with Gamuda as our preferred 'BUY’ pick,” it added.

-- BERNAMA