KUALA LUMPUR (July 16): The RM43 billion Melaka Gateway project is on-track, says its concessionaire, brushing aside concerns it is being reviewed by the new government and may be shelved. 

KAJ Development Sdn Bhd said it has requested for a meeting with key stakeholders such as the transport ministry and Port Klang Authority, to present the latest updates on the project. 

“We are continuing our engagements with key stakeholders such as meeting the chief minister of Melaka and the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP),” Melaka Gateway founder and KAJ chief executive officer Datuk Michelle Ong said in a statement. 

As a privately-funded project, Ong said both the state and federal governments did not need to inject a single cent into the development, or provide KAJ with any form of government guarantees. 

“Instead, we succeeded by forging long-term sustainable and effective partnerships between the private and public sectors to create a platform of appropriate risk allocation and value for money outcomes,” she said. “Melaka Gateway is a catalyst project by Malaysians, for Malaysians.” 

On June 29, KAJ said it had met with the CEP, an advisory body headed by former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin, to explain about the Melaka Gateway project, which will have a positive generational impact on Melaka. 

During the meeting, KAJ said it had presented a viable domestic and regional business plan for the project, which involves a collaboration among the federal government, state government, private sector business, investors and Melaka citizens. 

Transport Minister Anthony Loke said recently that the government has not seen any sign of work carried out at the development site near Pulau Melaka and that approvals related to its maiden proposed facility — the Melaka International Cruise Jetty — has lapsed.

Melaka Gateway consists of three man-made islands and one natural island that includes the Melaka International Cruise Terminal, which is developed in partnership with US-based Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd on its first island.

“Work on the cruise terminal reclamation and jetty is also halfway done and is currently earmarked for completion by the third quarter of 2019,” the group said.

KAJ also said one of the components of the Melaka Gateway project, Pulau Melaka East 1, which was launched in 2014 and cover 1,366 acres of land, was set to become the largest private marina in South-East Asia by 2025, with cruise terminal and jetty, commercial, cultural, heritage, entertainment, lifestyle and wellness elements. 

As for the Melaka International Cruise Terminal, KAJ expects it to attract 2.5 million tourists a year.

In June 2017, Melaka Gateway appointed SinoHydro Limited (M) Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PowerChina International, as its engineering, procurement and construction management (EPC) contractor to complete building the RM43 billion project.

“PowerChina is our contractor and our investors are from Miami (US), Holland, Germany, Middle-East, and Korea, contributing billions in foreign direct investment. Our investors are supportive of our vision for Melaka Gateway,” Ong added.

Once the Melaka Gateway fully completes, the project is estimated to create between 40,000 and 45,000 jobs over a 10-year period, with a projected economic multiplier anticipated to generate RM1.188 trillion to the local economy, KAJ said. — theedgemarkets.com

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