NEWS
PARTNERSHIP APPROACH
TO DEVELOPMENT
Kuantan
Port Consortium Sdn Bhd, the concession holder
of Kuantan Port, has proposed the adoption of
"East Coast Incorporated" concept to
forge ahead with the development of
"petrochemical corridor" of country.
"We
are working very closely with three stage
government namely, Pahang, Terengganu, and
Kelantan as well
with private sector
investors in the Eastern Corridor to
place the development of petrochemicals hub on
fast track," said
the Chairman of KPC, Tengku Tan Sri
Dato' Seri Ahmad Rithaudden bin Tengku Ismail.
"We
are aware of KPC's catalytic role in the
industrial development in the East Coast of
Peninsular Malaysia. Reflecting the
responsibilities placed on us, we have
allocated huge capital expenditure to handling
facilities and services at the port," he
said.
Under
the long -term development plan, KPC has
completed the construction of a 240-metre
liquid bulk terminal and is now working on the
development of other additional facilities,
including dredging the inner harbour basin.
"The creation of the inner harbour will
pave the way for the constructions of 11
berths for the future demand," said
Tengku Rithaudden in the KPC's annual dinner
on September 30, 2000.
He
noted that although the country was hit by
financial crisis in 1997-98, Kuantan Port
continued to handled increase volume of cargo.
Last year the port handled 5.5 million fwt
tonnes and for this year the port is expected
to handle 5.8 million fwt.
"Cargo
throughput is expected to grow further with
the expanding infrastructure facilities
providing shipper with better accessibility to
the port. Petronas, for instance, has built a
10km-long three-storey pipe rack from Gebeng
Industrial
Estate to centralise tangkage
facilities at Kuantan Port. Work meanwhile is
progressing well with the development of the
73-km rail link from Kerteh
Industrial Estate to Kuantan Port. As
for container handling, when we first started
our operation, we had only three services per
week in the middle of 1998. Beginning last
month we have attracted a total 12 services to
mount regular weekly service to Kuantan
Port,"he added.
According
to Tengku Ahmad Rithaudden plans are in the
pipeline to attract a direct service to
Australia region.
"Kuantan
will also have more direct services with
bigger capacity carrier when the dedicated
container terminals is development within next
couple of years," he said.
KPC's
annual dinner was grace by the representative
of the Chief Minister of Pahang , YB Dato'
Omar Othman. The dinner which was held at
Dewan Jubli Perak Sultan Ahmad Shah, Kuantan
was attended by more than 650 people from
various agency, port employees and port users.
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