ENGINEERING group Ranhill Bhd is eyeing hospital jobs in the Middle East and Southeast Asia that are similar in nature to its Women and Children's Hospital project in Kuala Lumpur.

"The Ranhill group is moving globally in all directions and we are looking for construction activities such as to build hospitals.

"We built the Serdang Hospital in 2005 and now have a contract to construct the Women and Children's Hospital. So we do have the expertise," its executive director Datuk Chandrasekar Suppiah told Business Times.

The Women and Children's Hospital Package 2 contract, worth RM720 million, was awarded to Ranhill in March. The hospital will be built by unit Ranhill Engineering and Constructors Sdn Bhd.

The contract involves piling, superstructure, mechanical and electrical, clinical and non-clinical fit-out works, and building the hospital on the premises of the General Hospital Kuala Lumpur.

Ranhill group president and chief executive Tan Sri Hamdan Mohamad said that a bulk of contribution from Package 2 will flow through in its next financial year ending June 30 2009 as construction will begin only in August after the completion of Package 1.

In the financial year to June 2007, Ranhill posted profit of RM117 million and revenue of RM1.47 billion.

Package 1, worth RM16 million, involves demolishing existing buildings and diverting services at the General Hospital to pave the way for construction. Works started in December last year.

"The Package 1 works have been carried out well according to programme and undertaken sensitively due to the proximity within a functioning hospital, with primary consideration to ensure continued operations at the General Hospital," Hamdan said.

Ranhill is positioning itself to carry out Package 2 on schedule and to complete the project by December 2011, he added.

The 13-storey hospital, within a six-storey podium to cater for both clinical work flows and patient needs, will be assigned as the national referral hospital on health matters concerning women birthing cycle and paediatric ailments.

It will have 600 beds, with allowance for 100 more beds for future expansion, supported by secondary and tertiary clinical care services.

Hamdan said the hospital project will open new avenues for the group, and it may undertake similar work for clients overseas.

Ranhill has a very strong order book for engineering, procurement, commissioning and construction work under its belt, which will last the company for another seven years.