The local Malaysian Member of Parliament has announced that work on the US$1.8 Billion Malacca Gateway will begin in 2017, reported the Malay Mail Online
A product of a joint venture between Chinese companies based in the Guangzhou province and a local Malaysian company, the new development of a deep sea port is placed on the vital trade route, the Malacca Strait, which is host to approximately a half of all marine traffic globally per year.
The new gateway is expected to see 100,000 ships call annually from 2019 once completed, and is planned to both increase the capacity of the existing port there and also relieve some of the pressure from the other ports in the surrounding area.
Datuk Ab Aziz, the Malaysian politician and Member of Parliament for Sri Gading, said: “The existing ports are congested so this new port will be able to accommodate rising demands.”
Stating that the port has already has special safety measure established, Ab Aziz said: “This is so that we have proper guidelines to prevent any unwanted incidents like the one in Tianjin.”
The ever increasing traffic in the Strait of Malacca off the politically contentious South China Sea region has caused much concern over the safety of the vessels passing through, both from the increasing threat of piracy in the region and the sharp increase in maritime accidents in recent times.
