Travel to Kuantan and Kuala Terengganu by train may be possible if the government agrees to the construction of a railway track from the Klang Valley through to Mentakab, Kuantan, Kuala Terengganu and Tumpat, Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Rahim Bakri said.

He said a report of a study on the proposed project by a consultant HSS Integrated Sdn Bhd was expected to be ready in March and would provide a description of the possible future transportation infrastructure in the east coast.

"The east coast route is a comprehensive network not only for cargo but for passengers as well. There is no railway route to Kuantan, Kuala Terengganu and Kota Bharu.

"There is a need for the facility due to the active economic activities there," he told reporters in Kuantan after a working visit to the Kuantan Port yesterday.

On the Ipoh-Padang Besar electrified railway double-tracking project, he said it was 50 per cent complete.

On the Kuantan port, Abdul Rahim said the Kuantan Port Authority was targeting 13 million tonnes of cargo handling this year, up from 12 million tonnes last year and 10.3 million tonnes in 2009.

He also said that last year, container handling increased by 7.4 per cent to 142,080 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), from 132,250 TEUs in 2009.

However, he said, the number of vessels which berthed at the port dropped to 2,405 last year from 2,447 in 2009.

Abdul Rahim said only small vessels with less than 40,000 tonnes of cargo could enter the port due to the shallow sea, and added that RM2.5 billion would be needed to deepen the port and make it accessible to bigger ships.

He said Kuantan port, with its strategic location, had the potential to become an important port in the South China Sea.

- Bernama