KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 ― The High Court here has temporarily blocked public transport operator Prasarana Malaysia Berhad (PMB) from ending a contract with a firm to expand the Kuala Lumpur monorail fleet.

According to public-listed firm Scomi Engineering Bhd, its wholly owned subsidiary Scomi Transit Projects Sdn Bhd (STP) had yesterday obtained an order restraining PMB from terminating the initial contract dated June 3, 2011 and a second supplemental contract dated April 15, 2015

“The ex parte injunction is valid until Friday, 4 March 2016 when the matter is to be heard inter parte,” it wrote in an announcement filed with Bursa Malaysia yesterday.

The ex parte injunction was granted on the application of one party, while the inter parte hearing means that the matter will be heard between both STP and PMB.

“The legal action and injunction have become necessary after PMB threatened to terminate the KL Monorail Expansion Contract in disregard to the terms set out therein,” Scomi Engineering said in the same announcement.

Scomi Engineering’s board said the effect of the court matter on its business performance will depend on the lawsuit’s outcome and added that it had acted on the advice of its lawyers.

The contract that STP had won was for the upgrade of the Kuala Lumpur monorail stations as well as its electrical and mechanical system, to build a new depot and to deliver 12 sets of new four-car trains to replace the two-car trains in use.

In Scomi Engineering’s 2015 annual report that was released last August 14, it said it had delivered its first four-car train on December 21, 2014 and had delivered an additional four sets in July 2015.

It said it expected to deliver the rest of the four-car trains this year.