news analysis
When the Sarawak minister in charge of ports, Wong Soon Koh replied in the state assembly to the opposition who labelled the new Kuala Baram port as a 'white elephant', he must have felt exceedingly proud of his lengthy answer.He devoted the first part - and a long one at that - replying to DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang's accusation that the whole project has been too costly and to what he (Wong) said is Lim's confusion with the figures on the project cost.
Whatever it is - judging from its performance, most observers would question the state government for spending RM250 million (not RM350 million as claimed by the DAP leader, said the minister) on the port complex and land improvements.
According to the Minister of Infrastructure Development and Communications, the construction cost of the new port complex in Kuala Baram was originally RM168.7 million.
Additionally, associated costs in the development of the port complex brought the total cost to RM250 million. He listed the additional items as ground improvement works RM39.3 million; professional and supervision fees RM17.2 million; land premium cost RM20.5 million; cargo handling and other equipment RM3 million; computer cabling RM300,000 and a feasibility study at RM1 million.
Soft loan
Of this, RM188.3 million was financed by way of a government soft loan and the rest financed by the Miri Port Authority's reserves.
"Where does that figure of RM350 million (as mentioned by Lim Kit Siang) come from?," asked the minister, adding "I wish I could use some unparliamentary language to describe Lim Kit Siang and the honourable member for Bukit Assek (Wong Ho Leng who is DAP's sole representative in the state assembly)."
But one interesting fact is that a RM250 million port only managed to handle a total of 161,678 metric tonnes of cargo last year when it was designed and built for a cargo capacity of 3.5 million metric tonnes per annum.
In the first quarter of this year, the port, situated about 8km upriver from the mouth of the Baram River (Kuala Baram), handled 2,726 TEUs ( 20-feet containers) compared with 1,611 TEUs during the same period last year.
In other words, based on this quarterly performance, the port can be expected to handle about 150,000 metric tonnes and about 9,000 TEUs this year, after RM250 million has been spent on building the port.
Heavy siltation
But this has not taken into consideration a further sum that still needs to be spent on dredging the Kuala Baram estuary to provide for at least a six-metre deep access channel so that larger ships can come in.
In his statement to the House, the minister did not mention how much this would cost, but he nevertheless disputed Lim's claim that an additional RM500 million would be spent on dredging and regular maintenance.
He also gave a number of reasons why the port had to be re-located away from its old site in Miri Town to the present site to the north of Kuala Baram. Among them were that the old site was congested, there was no land space for expansion and heavy siltation at the mouth of the Miri River.
Another reason was the build-up of new industries such as wood-based manufacturing, ship repairs and maintenance and oil-related industries - all of which are concentrated to the north of Kuala Baram near the new port site.
TONY THIEN is a freelance writer based in Kuching.
