|
The
Sabah Ports Authority (SPA), which
hopes for a larger role for ports in
the state in the Brunei, Indonesia,
Malaysia and the Philippines-East
Asia growth region, has received
RM43 million soft loan from the
Federal Government for port
expansion projects.
According
to the general manager of the port
authority Ramli Amir, the loan would
be fully utilized to upgrade the
port equipment and construction of
additional jetties and wharves in
the three major ports namely
Sandakan, Kota Kinabalu and Tawau.
Currently
SPA manages four modern multipurpose
port facilities with quaylines
extending over 3.2km length in Kota
Kinabalu, Sandakan, Lahat Datu,
Tawau.
It
has operates a dedicated 128 metre
oil terminal at Sapangar Bay, some
28 km from the state capital of Kota
Kinabalu.
Kunak
and Kudak terminals are under the
preview of the SPA.
Ramli
said container handling facilities
in Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan would
be upgraded with the loan secured
from the federal government.
As
for the Sandakan Port an additional
five acres site for the storage
facility will be developed.
“The
new site will be capable of handling
800 TEUs at any point of time and
this will complement the existing
1,500 total ground slots available
at the present container yard. Upon
completion of the upgrading, ships
calling these ports can expect
faster turnaround,” said Ramli.
A
new ferry terminal has been also
proposed to be built at Sandakan
Port while the liquid bulk terminal
facilities will be upgraded at
Sapangar Bay Oil Terminal.
The
expansion and development are
expected to increase SPA’s cargo
handling capacity tremendously.
SPA
last year handled 17.7 million tones
of traffic, including 154,000 TEUs
compared with 149,500 TEUs in the
previous year.
The
current congestion problem at the
main container handling facilities
at SPA will be further eased with
the development of Sapangar Bay
Container Terminal.
The
development of the Sapangar Bay
Container Terminal has been scaled
down to 200 metres of quayline.
The
terminal, being built at a cost of
RM150 million, would have an
L-shaped wharf and would have an
annual handling capacity of about
70,000 TEUs said Ramli.
Ramli
said work on the dedicated Sapangar
Bay Container Terminal (SBCT) was
scheduled to start any time now and
ready for commercial operation by
middle of 2004.
“An
area of about 10 hectares will be
reclaimed to make way for the new
container terminal. The new terminal
is located less than 1 km away from
the existing Sapangar Bay Oil
Terminal,” he said.
"The
completion of SBCT within the next
two years will offer sufficient
cargo handling equipment and make it
a dedicated container port serving
the BIMP-EAGA region. Additional
container handling equipment will be
acquired to ensure efficiency level
to reach at least 22 boxes or moves
per hour," said Ramli.
He
said the development of SBCT was
timely as the Kota Kinabalu
container terminal, which is capable
of handling 80,000 TEUs, has reached
its maximum capacity.
“In
the initial stage, the SBCT will be
complementing the present Kota
Kinabalu Port but we will be moving
the entire Kota Kinabalu container
operations to SBCT once we reach the
second phase of development"
said Ramli.
|
