“Teh is last of the top management who had worked with the founders. Soam is the first to be holding the top post and who is not from IJM itself. But he has learnt the culture well. IJM rewards those who do well,” said an industry executive.

He citied the example of Tan who was the first non-engineer to be appointed MD of IJM because the founders were confident that he could perform.

IJM is known to run a tight ship, which is vital for a construction company to prevent leakages. There are several checks and balances to ensure that there is no one person authorised to sign off large cheques. All tendering of projects beyond RM1bil will have to go through the board that comprises people well-versed with project management.

“It has to pass muster with the board first who scrutinises all numbers,” said the official.
IJM adopts a system where all its jobs including internal ones are tendered out.

“At IJM, we believe that no department should be a parasite to another. There is no parasite culture here, even within the group, we tender for jobs on a competitive basis, based on market rates,” Teh said.

He explained that everything was based on market rates and that its construction arm cannot subsidise its property arm.

IJM’s phenomenal growth over the past three decades is the result of its unwavering focus on its core competencies, diversification into strategically related businesses and selective expansion into new markets.

It ventured into property development out of necessity during the recession in the mid-80s. There were fewer construction opportunities then but the Government provided land for companies to build mass low and medium cost houses under privatisation programmes.

IJM Land has some 4,900 acres of undeveloped landbank, with a gross development value of RM30bil.
IJM currently owns and operates several toll concessions in Malaysia, namely the Sungai Besi Highway,

New Pantai Expressway and Kajang-Seremban Expressway. It also has a port concession in Kuantan. The opportunity came about when Road Builder was up for sale in 2006.

IJM closed seven sen down to RM7.33 last Thursday giving the company a market capitalisation of RM13bil.



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