Special committee overseeing Bintulu Port takeover urged to commence first meeting ASAP

Dr Kelvin Yii

By Shikin Louis

KUCHING, Nov 13: Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii has called for the special committee overseeing Bintulu Port takeover to commence its first meeting as soon as possible.

He believed that the meeting should be expedited as the takeover involves issues of public interest.  The meeting must be held soon to ensure that the arrangements and agreements made would benefit Sarawak as a whole and serve as a growth catalyst in the region.

“Discussions that will be carried out include obtaining more information from the Sarawak government regarding the acquisition method of Bintulu Port.

“Once the information has been researched and refined accordingly with the Sarawak government, the results of the research will be raised to the level of a special committee whose members consists of the Transport Minister Anthony Loke, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Sabah, Sarawak Affairs and Special Functions) Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali, and Sarawak’s Deputy Premier-cum-Minister of Infrastructure and Port Development Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.

“Once the Special Committee Meeting has been held and the research from the results of the meeting has been completed, the Ministry of Transport will prepare a Cabinet Memorandum to inform the findings of the discussion and obtain consideration and approval from the Federal Cabinet,” Dr Yii said in a statement today.

Dr Yii who is also Democratic Action Party Social Youth (DAPSY) chief, further said that the committee’s first meeting was supposed to take place on Nov 1 but was postponed due to some unavoidable circumstances.

“I will continue to follow up on this matter in my capacity especially to ensure the timeline is properly adhered to without any unnecessary delays.

“I am also grateful for the current Prime Minister (Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim) and Transport Minister (Loke) who have been consistent in upholding the interest of Sabah and Sarawak as stated in Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) report as such devolution of authority of the port would not have happened if both of them were not open to that principle,” he added. — DayakDaily