JOHOR BARU, Oct 14 — The Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) will be expanded gradually over the next five to 10 years to increase the port’s capacity by 2030, Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said today.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said the port is capable of handling 12.5 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent) units a year now but the expansion would enable the port located in Gelang Patah to handle 30 million TEUs a year.
“The federal government, especially the Ministry of Transport, has given its full support to the proposed expansion of PTP which is a major port in the country, playing a strategic role in the development of the country’s maritime sector.
“Of course, this proposed expansion is very important and strategic and needs to be implemented immediately,” he told reporters after officiating the Johor Port Authority’s Ports Week 2019, here today.
Also present were Johor’s Public Works, Transport and Infrastructure committee chairman Mohd Solihan Badri, Johor Port Authority chairman Rosnan Fathlal and its general manager Muhammad Razif Ahmad.
Loke said he would be holding a meeting with the Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Dr Sahruddin Jamal to gain the state’s approval on the matter and to ensure PTP’s expansion plan carried out efficiently.
The intention to expand the PTP was expressed by the port operator a few years ago on the back of robust growth of between eight and nine per cent per annum in the port’s cargo handling, he said.
The expansion of PTP according to him, would also attract a variety of investments to the state, especially in the logistics sector with more companies including in the automotive sector choosing Malaysia as their regional distribution centre.
“If we do nothing (expansion) within the next three or four years, it (PTP) will reach full capacity. We cannot do any planning (expansion) when it is full, we have to do it now, “he said, adding that the cost of the expansion would be borne by the private sector and the concession holder of PTP. — Bernama
