Malaysia eyes Japan firms for water job - papers

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Malaysia has short-listed four Japanese firms to build a 45-km (28-mile) tunnel, part of a 3.8 billion ringgit ($1.14 billion) project to pipe water to the capital, local newspapers said on Wednesday.

The dailies quoted Malaysian Water Minister Lim Keng Yaik as saying he would not name the companies, but the Business Times said the four were thought to be Kubota Corp (6326.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Kajima Corp (1812.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Taisei Corp (1801.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Obayashi Corp (1802.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

The overall project, involves building a dam in central Pahang state and piping water to the heavily populated state of Selangor, home to the biggest city, Kuala Lumpur.

The project is being part-funded by a soft loan from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation for 82 billion yen ($746 million).

(Reporting by Mark Bendeich; Editing by Valerie Lee)