KUALA LUMPUR: Permodalan Nasional Bhd's (PNB) Merdeka 118 tower is 50 per cent completed, reaching 111 floors prior to enforcement of the Movement Control Order (MCO) on March 18.
PNB president and group chief executive officer Jalil Rasheed said construction was halted during the first three phases of the MCO but preparations had been made to resume work, which should begin this week.
"We have got seven floors more to go on the central core structure. There could be an additional two to three months extension of construction period.
"That includes the period no work was allowed under the MCO as well as an adjustment phase that we're currently undergoing right now," Jalil said at a virtual press conference on PNB's 2019 annual report and its 2020-2022 strategic plan here today.
He said PNB would impose strict guidelines on temperature screening on workers, as well as stagger staff hours to manage the crowd and practice social distancing at the construction site.
"Hence, I guess it will take some time to have an operating pattern and rhythm. But we aim to catch up as much as possible with the time lost," he added.
In terms of construction materials, he said many were sourced locally and the overseas-sourced ones had already been in storage.
"It would be enough for us to do work over the next six months or so. So, we can start work immediately," he said.
Group chairman Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz expects the project to be completed by late 2021.
"We will take up 17 floors and we will be operating four floors of the observation deck which are going to be very exciting where you can see most of Kuala Lumpur. There will be many exhibits there on the four top floors," Zeti added.