Senior minister for defence Hishammuddin Hussein said the ministry was in the final stages of negotiations to prepare a recovery plan for the troubled project.

Hishammuddin told the Dewan Rakyat that workshops involving all stakeholders for the rehabilitation of the LCS project had been held “to ensure that comprehensive rehabilitation recommendations can be produced before being re-submitted to the Cabinet for approval and further action”, Bernama reported.

He said the project was at 57% completion up to Oct 31, compared to the original schedule of 96%. Overall, procurement had been delayed by 39.52%, or the equivalent of 43 months.

The LCS project has been suspended since 2019 because of delays and rising costs.

The first ship of six in the Maharaja Lela class was launched in August 2017 and had been scheduled for delivery in April 2019 under a RM9 billion contract awarded to Boustead Naval Shipyard. A parliamentary committee said last month that RM6 billion had been paid but not a single ship delivered.

The government agreed last month to resume the project. Then defence minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said that it would save the jobs of 1,600 Malaysians and sustain more than 400 vendors, comprising Bumiputera small and medium entrepreneurs.

The LCS project entails the construction of six ships based on the Gowind design of corvettes produced by French shipbuilder Naval Group (formerly DCNS).