Malacca Chief Minister Mohd Ali Rustam said the RM1.2 billion electrical cable project near Telok Gong, Alor Gajah, would create a strategic partnership in energy usage between his state and Sumatra.

He said the project that involves a collaboration between Malaysia's Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) and Indonesia's PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), had been agreed upon by the two parties last year.

It would be implemeted in two phases with the first scheduled to commence in 2014 and completed three years later, he told reporters after the 8th Governors and Chief Ministers Forum in conjunction with the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) Conference in Medan.

Under phase one, the project would generate up to 300MW of power while phase two 600MW, he said.

“It's one of the master plan programmes between Malacca and Sumatra, and through this collaboration, we don't need to build many electric generating stations because the two regions can share electrical power,” he said.

He said that through this project, unused electric power in Telok Gong at night would be supplied to Sumatra while during the day, it would be Sumatra's turn to supply electricity for use in the peninsula through Telok Gong.

“This collaboration brings a win-win situation to both regions, simultaneously helping to grow the economy in the west coast of the peninsula and Sumatra including the coastlines along the Straits of Malacca,” he said.

Ali said that another project to be undertaken was the construction of a roll-on on roll-off (ro-ro) ferry terminal for services between Malacca and Dumai but the location had been moved from Tanjung Bruas to Klebang, he said.

Service at the Klebang terminal would take time because the reclamation work had not been finished, he said.

The IMT-GT Forum, attended by about 500 participants from the three countries, was opened by North Sumatra Governor H Gatot Pujonugroho. Also present was Thailand's Joint Business Council head Bonchuay Chansiliwathana Thamrong.

The IMT-GT covers 14 provinces in Thailand, eight states in Malaysia and 10 provinces in Sumatra with a combined population of 80.5 million.

- Bernama