Allow firm to continue for now: Chamber

LABUAN: Labuan Chamber of Commerce chairman Datuk Wong Kii Yii welcomed the clarification on the “open tender” for the Liberty port management but did not agree to some of the points made by Labuan Port Authority (LPA).

Wong said since it is acknowledged in the clarification that the new contract for the port management is merely for six years and dims the hopes of any local company being successful in the bidding.

“This is because the estimated cost to purchase port-related equipments could be between RM20 and RM30 million and it is doubtful that the investments could generate sufficient returns within six years to cover cost of investment.

Furthermore, the cargo volume handled at the container port is not as huge as that of major ports.

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He suggested that the LPA look into the possibility of the locally-incorporated company which had been running the port since 1982 and now on month-to-month basis arrangements maintained for a further period.

Also the request for proposals for the port be given about two to three months to prepare.

“This will enable an interested local company to participate on the port contract.”

He added for the time being if there were any issues arising from the present port operations it should be discussed between LPA and the port operator and resolved for benefit of port users and others.

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Regarding Wong’s claim in the report on Aug 18 that the deadline set on Aug 22 on the request for proposals was too short a time, the General Manager of LPA Zulkarnain Ayub said this had be extended to Sept 3.

Another suggestion of Wong was that in future LPA should discuss port issues with all the chambers of commerce in Labuan as most of its members were port users and this would avoid confusion and misunderstanding.

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