PORT KLANG, July 12 ― Port Klang Authority (PKA) is in talks with the Ministry of Finance (MoF) over the possible restructuring of its Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project debt, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said today.
Loke said this year, PKA estimated its revenue to reach RM266 million, but at the same time it has fork out RM222 million to the government.
“Higher debt repayment will cause PKA to has a negative cash flow which it will has to use its cash reserve to pay the debt and also administrative cost.
“PKA is discussing with the Finance Ministry to see how it can restructure the debt so that the repayment will not reduce its cash reserves,” he told reporters during a press conference after a meeting with PKA management today.
Loke also urged PKA to find solutions to increase the authority’s revenue from the PKFZ project.
“One of the contributors to PKA’s RM266 million revenue is from PKFZ, amounting to almost RM80 million which involves the rental of industrial lots from the private companies and others.
“Therefore, I hope PKA is on track to ensure it achieves higher revenue and increase its operations,” he added.
Additionally, Loke said the new PKFZ chairman will not be a politician, which is in line with Pakatan Harapan’s manifesto to appoint only professionals to lead government-linked companies.
“We have proposed an accountant for the position,” he said, adding that the appointment of new chairman will be announced soon.
However, he said it would be acceptable to appoint politicians as chairman and board members of PKA as it is a statutory body, not a company like PKFZ.
