MA63 Technical Committee to discuss Bintulu Port handover in July meeting

KUCHING - The Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) Technical Committee’s meeting in early July will discuss in detail the issues to be ironed out in relation to Sarawak’s wish to take over Bintulu Port from the Federal Government, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof.

Fadillah, who also chairs the technical committee, said the main points of the briefing on port status change planning by Sarawak Deputy Premier and Infrastructure and Port Development Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas yesterday will also be discussed during the meeting.

"Sarawak wants the port to be under a single entity, so I will bring up this matter from yesterday’s briefing and will call a meeting of the committee as well as get guidance from the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim).

"The meeting will take place in either the first or second week of July,” he told a media conference after officiating at the launch of MyKasih "Love My Neighbourhood” for the Petra Jaya constituency here today.

Fadillah said the port takeover issue has been submitted to Transport Minister Anthony Loke but there has not been any meeting held on the matter.

"Therefore, I, as chairman of the MA63 Technical Committee, will call a meeting in line with the Sarawak government’s wish,” he said.

According to him, the change in port status for the return to Sarawak is in accordance with what is contained in the Federal Constitution and the Sarawak Constitution that place ports under the jurisdiction of the state government.

It was previously reported that Sarawak intends to take over Bintulu Port to make it part of a cluster of state ports administered by a central port authority to be incorporated by state law.

Meanwhile, Fadillah, who is also Plantation and Commodities Minister, said he will undertake a five-day working visit to Kenya from July 3 to July 7, as the country is a gateway for Malaysia to expand its palm oil exports to the African continent.

"Kenya has the potential to be an entry point due to its proximity to Tanzania and other countries, and the palm oil exports to Kenya in 2022 were 1.2 million metric tonnes, which was a significant amount,” he added. - BERNAMA