By Debra Chong
KUALA LUMPUR, May 28 — Penang Port Commission (PPC) chief Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek was today accused of blocking Putrajaya’s proposal to deepen the harbour channel with three lawmakers from the state suggesting it was a “sinister” plot to strangle its economic growth and benefit Johor’s Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP).
Three Penang MPs demanded to know the Johor-born Dr Chua’s rationale in rejecting Putrajaya’s proposal to dredge Penang Port and draw bigger ships measuring 8,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) to call on the island state along the Straits of Malacca, the world’s busiest waterway.
“Is there a conspiracy to stifle Penang’s economy through privatisation of Penang Port to Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar al-Bukhary who will turn it into a feeder port for his Tanjong Pelepas Port (PTP)?
“Why did Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek (picture), as Penang Port Commission chairman, reject the proposal to dredge the Penang Port channel, during a meeting of National Economic Council, the government’s economic cabinet in which Chua is a member, on 8th August 2011?” DAP MPs Chow Kon Yow, Liew Chin Tong and Chong Eng asked.
Chow is Tanjong MP as well as the state executive councillor for local government and traffic, while Liew is Bukti Bendera MP and Chong Eng represents Bukit Mertajam on the mainland.
The trio pointed out that the Barisan Nasional (BN) federal government had repeatedly promised to dredge the channel under the 9th and 10th Malaysia Plans but had yet to do so.
The Malaysian Insider reported in December 2010 that the Cabinet had approved the Ministry of Finance’s (MoF) sale of Penang Port Sdn Bhd (PPSB) to PTP, a unit of tycoon Syed Mokhtar’s logistics operations despite competitive bids from other businessmen and also the Penang government, which owns the port land.
The three MPs said they understood that Syed Mokhtar, who also owns Seaport Terminal (Johore) Sdn Bhd, may ask MoF to cut the final price for Penang Port to RM150 million from the initial RM450 million in exchange for the federal government to not dredge the northern channel which would save it RM350 million.
However, they did not disclose how they came by that knowledge.
The PR lawmakers pointed out that Syed Mokhtar also owns PTP and Johor Port and said he may decide to cut down on one of the two ports, which they said meant a closure of Johor Port’s container port.
“Seaport Terminal may bring the seven units of Super Port Panamax cranes from Penang to PTP and may bring the six quay cranes in Johor Port to place it in Penang. Essentially, Seaport Terminal may potentially engage in asset stripping,” they added.
They highlighted that with the smaller cranes unable to handle ships measuring 4,000 TEUs and above, Seaport Terminal may not end up carrying the dredging works around the Penang channel.
“Penang Port is located at the centre of the international maritime route, making it a natural transhipment hub. It is a waste not to utilise this geographical advantage,” Chow, Liew and Chong said in their joint statement.
The PR MPs also questioned Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is also the finance minister, to explain why Putrajaya had not called for an open tender in privatising Penang Port. They also demanded he confirm or deny Syed Mokhtar’s plans for the shipping hubs.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng wrote to Najib in early December 2010 to put in a bid to run the port, which has declined since the MoF took over in 1994. The port lost its free-port status in 1974.
The influential businessman already owns Port of Tanjung Pelepas and Johor Port via MMC Corp Bhd, whose joint venture with Gamuda Bhd was also named Project Delivery Partner (PDP) for the MRT project in Kuala Lumpur. The joint venture grabbed the RM8.2 billion tunnelling job for the MRT in March.
Sources said then Syed Mokhtar was the preferred contender as he already owned ports and airports although another Putrajaya-friendly tycoon, Datuk Siew Ka Wei, was keen to purchase PPSB through Ancom Logistics Bhd, whose chairman Datuk Abdul Latif Abdullah used to be PPSB chairman.
PPSB is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MoF Inc while the regulator, PPC, also reports to Putrajaya through the Transport Ministry.
It is learnt that cargo volumes at Penang Port have failed to match Port Klang and Tanjung Pelepas, growing only 5.8 per cent a year between 1995 and 2009, against Klang which grew 14.2 per cent annually.
Syed Mokhtar’s Tanjung Pelepas port began in 1999 but now handles more than six million TEUs a year, six times more than the one million TEUs in Penang.
Penang has complained that federal ownership of the port operator has worsened its financial position, with net debt rising from RM148 million in 2004 to RM832 million in 2009 — a 462 per cent increase in five years.