Guan Eng vows to fight attempts to move out Penang Port
(The Star) – Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has vowed to fight tooth-and-nail against any move to relocate the Penang Port to another venue or state.
Commenting on Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat’s statement that the port might be relocated to facilitate future expansion plans, Lim said it was an act of betrayal to the people of Penang.
“Any quarter who tries to relocate Penang Port to another venue or state, or even suggests it, is anti-Penang,” Lim told a press conference at the Penang Development Corporation yesterday.
He said a relocation of the port would significantly affect existing industries in Penang.
He has ordered his office to get a detailed explanation on the proposed plan.
Commenting on the same issue, Penang Chinese Chamber of Commerce president Tan Sri Tan Kok Ping said the money spent on upgrading the infrastructure would go to waste if Butterworth Container Terminal and Prai Bulk Cargo Terminal, both part of Penang Port, were relocated.
He admitted that there was a need for an additional terminal to cater for bigger vessels, but believed it could be built in the state.
The chamber’s transport chairman Wong Yim Fatt said there were suitable locations in Penang for an additional terminal.
“In 1953, the British produced a report that Gertak Sanggul, which has a deep sea-bed, was a suitable site to have a port,” Wong said.
North Malaysia Shipping Agents’ Association president Franco Ong also said if the new terminal was located outside Penang, then the container depots at the industrial estates would need to be shifted.
Penang Freight Forwarders’ Association president Krishnan Chelliah said it was acceptable for a new terminal to be located within a 75km to 80km radius of the container and bulk cargo terminals.
“In Johor, the Port of Tanjung Pelepas is also about 80km from Pasir Gudang Port, and it is not causing problems,” he said.
