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Dato’ Sri Ir Chong Ket Pen (Born 14 July 1954) is a Malaysian businessmen, civil engineer, educator and philanthropist. He is presently the Executive Vice Chairman and Group Managing Director of Protasco Berhad ; a public listed road maintenance, construction and engineering company that has a diversified portfolio in property development, education, trading, manufacturing & consultancy services. He was appointed to the Board on 18 May 2001 and has consistently maintained an operational profit every year since the company’s listing in 2003. Protasco has been registering an annual minimum net profit growth of 15% over the last few years. The company charted another milestone by crossing RM1 billion in turnover in 2014 and subsequently RM1.3 billion in 2015. In the last 20 years, Protasco has completed more than RM2 Billion worth of road construction and upgrading projects including 14,487km of federal and state roads

On 24 October 2001, Chong Ket Pen was awarded with the “Darjah Kebesaran Mahkota Pahang Yang Amat Mulia” – ‘Darjah Indera Mahkota Pahang’ (DIMP) by Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Al-Mustain Billah Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Abu Bakar Ri’ayatuddin Al-Muadzam Shah, the Sultan of Pahang.

Later in 26 November 2013, he was bestowed with “Darjah Kebesaran Sultan Ahmad Shah Pahang Yang Amat Dimulia” – ‘Peringkat Pertama Sri Sultan Ahmad Shah Pahang (SSAP)’ which carries the title of Dato' Sri on the Sultan of Pahang’s 83rd birthday.

Education
Chong Ket Pen graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) degree from the University of Malaya in 1979. In 1984, Chong Ket Pen joined the Institute of Engineers Malaysia (IEM). He became a registered Professional Engineer with the Board of Engineers Malaysia and a member of the United Kingdom’s Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) in 1985. In 1987, Chong Ket Pen officially became a Chartered Engineer under the United Kingdom’s Engineering Council. He further obtained his Masters of Philosophy (Civil Engineering) from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom in 1990.

Career
Chong Ket Pen began his career as a Road Design Engineer cum Assistant Project Engineer with Public Work’s Department (JKR), Kelantan in 1979. He was responsible for several projects such as designing and preparing the tender documents for the Sg. Pinang Road. He also supervised bridge construction in Tumpat and Kota Bharu, Kelantan.

In 1982, he was promoted to Project Engineer where he administered and supervised the construction of a RM40 million road and bridge project that spanned from Kuala Krai to Dabong in Kelantan.

He went on to become a Senior Engineer in 1984 at the JKR Headquarters’ Design and Research Branch in Kuala Lumpur. There, he helped rehabilitate runway designs at Labuan, Penang and Kota Kinabalu Airports as well as conduct various research, design and testing on pavement roadworks throughout peninsular Malaysia. It was also during this period that Chong Ket Pen took his first step as an educator by giving a lecture on “Pavement Evaluation and Overlay Design” at JKR’s Training Centre.

In 1988, he joined JKR’s Institute of Training and Research (IKRAM) as the Senior Pavement Research Engineer for two years and was later assigned as Senior Engineer for Pavement Evaluation and Research. There he was responsible for the pavement evaluation and rehabilitation of roads under the 6th Malaysian Plan.

Chong Ket Pen left JKR in 1991 to venture out on his own. He started two companies which were Paves Sdn Bhd and C&H Engineering Consultants Sdn Bhd in which he is still the Founding Director to-date.

In 1997, he became the Founding Director of Kumpulan Ikram Sdn Bhd (KISB) where he focussed on research and development of Geotechnical Engineering, Pavement Engineering and Transportation & Road safety. He also formed IKRAM College of Technology in 1998 and conducted short training courses in engineering, computer science (IT) and management.

Chong Ket Pen went further to become the Executive Director of Protasco Trading Sdn Bhd and several subsidiaries under the KISB Group in 2001. He later co-founded Protasco Berhad which was listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia on the 8th of August 2003. As the company’s Managing Director, Chong Ket Pen made it a one-stop integrated infrastructure centre specialising in road maintenance, construction, property & infrastructure, engineering services and consultancy, education, trading & manufacturing.

Dato’ Sri Ir Chong Ket Pen is presently the Executive Vice Chairman/Group Managing Director of Protasco Berhad. Under his leadership, the company has successfully maintained a minimum net profit growth 15% since 2012. They’ve charted a new milestone by crossing RM1.06 billion in turnover for 2014 and subsequently RM1.31 billion in 2015.

Kelantan Flood
In December 2014, the heavy rains caused the rivers in Kelantan to breach their banks and created one of the worst floods in decades. The flood waters killed 21 people and drove more than 200,000 people out of their homes. The network of roads were maintained by Roadcare (M) Sdn Bhd which was a subsidiary of Chong Ket Pen’s Protasco. They organised flood relief convoys to provide urgent help. More than RM50,000 in food, water and other essentials were delivered to flood victims. When the waters finally receded in January, the company gave both physical and financial assistance of close to RM110,000. In March, Protasco identified the flood victims’ most pressing need was for refrigerators and washing machines. Together with two local NGOs, Protasco bought new home appliances to help 15 families.

Chong Ket Pen also decided that he had to help rebuild homes and sponsored the construction of six new houses. All six of those homes were completed before the country’s 58th National Day celebration. In December 2015, they contributed another RM57,000 to help 400 children from the flood with get back to school with essentials such as uniforms, bags and stationeries.