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Sabah has added a word of caution in any pre-emotive move by the Federal
government to designate Bintulu Port in Sarawak exclusively as a regional
load centre.
Noting that a study has been commissioned by the government, the general
manager of Sabah Port Authority, Mayong Omar said Sabah, particularly Kota
Kinabalu should not be left out in a scenario in which a load centre is
designated in East Malaysia.
“We are aware that the study will look into what roles both ports can play
in the development of the load centre. It is our view that there is room for
both Bintulu and Kota Kinabalu to play a complementing role in the move to
develop a load centre covering Sabah and Sarawak,” he said, at the
conference in Bintulu last week.
Stating Sabah was not totally opposed to Bintulu Port becoming a regional
load centre, Mayong said Kota Kinabalu port would have a supportive role to
play in generating cargo volumes to the Sarawak port.
“Any such supportive role played by Kota Kinabalu must therefore enjoy the
same benefits, if any, the Federal government would introduce to foster the
development of the load centre,” he said.
He said such benefits would cover the high profile marketing and promotional
efforts by the Ministry of Transport as was in the case for promoting Port
Klang as the national load centre, as well as direct or indirect subsidies
and tariff discounts.
Mayong felt while Kota Kinabalu port, that was geographically closer to
several East Asian ports, including China, was more strategically placed
among ports in the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asia Growth
Area to bid for the load centre status, it was not financially ready to take
on the role as well as the state of its infrastructure needed further
development.
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