The SALAM project is expected to start by the end of this year

KUCHING, 15 Oct: The MADANI Maritime Policy Cabling (SALAM) Program is expected to start implementation towards the end of this year or early next year with a completion period of at least three years.

Minister of Communications, Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil said the programme will involve 10 seafloor cable landing sites across the country including three locations in Sarawak namely Bintulu, Matu and Buntal.

According to him, Bintulu has been identified as one of the key locations for supporting the development of Bintulu Port and surrounding areas.

"SALAM will help provide additional services to the existing SKR1M (Malaysia's 1People's Cable System) seafloor cable and for the first time, we are providing various landing sites.

"We expect the implementation to be done by the end of this year or early next year and is expected to be completed in about two to three years", he said.

He said this during a media briefing after witnessing the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for implementation of Kuching Smart City and Digital Connectivity project at the Kenyalang Hall, Sarawak State Legislative Assembly (DUN) today.

According to him, the implementation of the program in Sarawak will be done through close cooperation with the Ministry of Utility and Telecommunications (MUT) of Sarawak along with the Ministry of Communications.

In addition, the effort is aimed at supporting Sarawak's development especially in the telecommunications sector and digital economy, as well as strengthening connectivity through maritime cable networks.