Malaysia: Minister Clears Up River Dredging Case

The accusation according to which RM100 million had gone missing from Miri Port Authority (MPA) proves not to be true.

After the State Legislative Assembly meeting held yesterday, Dato Sri Michael Manyin, Infrastructure Development and Communication Minister, stated that the matter in question brought up by Alan Ling Sie Kiong had been manipulated to bring shame upon the state government.

“The federal government had already approved the RM100 million for dredging the river but when we received the approval, the state government was instead of the opinion that dredging work would not overcome the problem faced by MPA,” said Manyin.

He stressed that it was improbable to resist nature therewith, due to the river flow from Baram, the situation would still occur.

“In my capacity as the minister in charge, I had submitted a cabinet paper asking for funds to do a very comprehensive study on how to address this issue,” said Manyin.

In his opinion, any consideration to replace dredging would rely on the results of the study planned to be undertaken within nine months.

“We will act, based on the outcome of the study and we had already received RM3.9 million to conduct the research,” he said, adding that the RM100 million might not be sufficient to overcome the problem if dredging was not the solution.

Projects of vital concern such as Jalan Song, which costs about RM50 million, and Balingian Road, which would cost about RM85 million and already tendered for final approval, are the state government’s main priority.

[mappress]

Dredging Today Staff, November 22, 2011