China setuju tingkat dagangan

China setuju tingkat dagangan
Oleh ZULKIFLI JALIL, HELMI MOHD. FOAD dan THOMAS CHONGpengarang@utusan.com.my

PUTRAJAYA 11 Nov. – Malaysia dan China hari ini bersetuju untuk meningkatkan perdagangan dan pelaburan dua hala terutama dalam bidang kelapa sawit dan kayu-kayan.

Perkara itu dinyatakan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak hari ini, hasil rundingan bersama dengan Hu Jintao di Bangunan Perdana Putra di sini sempena lawatan rasmi dua hari Presiden China itu ke Malaysia. Pada sidang akhbar bersama dengan Jintao, Najib berkata, China yang merupakan rakan dagangan terbesar Malaysia berharap perdagangan dua hala akan berkembang pada masa depan.

‘‘Beliau menyatakan hasrat China untuk meningkatkan permintaan melibatkan minyak sawit dan kayu-kayan.

‘‘Kedua-dua pihak juga bersetuju projek Jambatan Kedua Pulau Pinang akan dilaksanakan dengan lancarnya dan kemungkinan lain melibatkan komitmen Malaysia untuk memberi projek pembinaan kepada syarikat China dalam membangunkan Empangan Mengkuang (di Seberang Perai) serta kerjasama dalam projek kilang kertas dan kilang melebur aluminium di Sarawak.

‘‘Malaysia juga bersetuju pada prinsipnya untuk memberi projek landasan berkembar dari Gemas ke Johor Bahru kepada (syarikat) China,” kata beliau.


Sebanyak lima memorandum persefahaman (MoU) berkaitan perbankan, pengajian tinggi dan pembetungan ditandatangani antara beberapa kementerian dengan syarikat China sempena lawatan Jintao itu.
Ketika ini pelaburan China di Malaysia bernilai AS$134 juta sementara pelaburan Malaysia di republik berkenaan berjumlah AS$1.36 bilion.
Sebanyak 67 peratus eksport Malaysia ke China terdiri daripada barangan elektrik dan elektronik serta komoditi terutama minyak sawit.
Pada masa sama, 65 peratus import Malaysia dari China juga melibatkan barangan elektrik dan elektronik, mesin dan alat ganti.
Sambil menyifatkan pertemuan dengan Jintao berlangsung dalam suasana amat baik, Perdana Menteri berkata, mereka berkongsi pandangan betapa hubungan Kuala Lumpur-Beijing telah memasuki fasa lebih menarik.
‘‘Kita komited untuk melonjakkan hubungan ini ke tahap lebih tinggi,” kata beliau.

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Three major rail lines

Three major rail lines
Malaysian Mirror Wed 4/11/09

THE Government has identified three major railway lines to improve the national rail network services.

Deputy Transport Minister Robert Lau said the projects outlined were the
Gemas-Johor Baru double tracking project, the
Serendah-Port Klang-Seremban track and the
East Coast railway line.

“The transport authorities need to find out whether there is a priority to provide rail services in the East Coast states first before it is ready to construct rail networks,” he told Kamaruddin Jaafar (PAS-Tumpat).

Lau said KTM Berhad manages 1,658km of railway lines. This included 1,328km-long single track line and 330km-long double track lines covering the Seremban-Ipoh and Sentul-Port Klang lines.

“To improve capacity of the railway transport services, the Government has approved the implementation of double-tracking projects for the Ipoh-Padang Besar (329km), Seremban-Gemas (98km) and Sentul-Batu Caves (7.5km) routes,” he added.

Lau also told Alexander Nanta Linggi (BN-Kapit) that the Government is studying the need to provide railway lines in Sarawak.

Tender for Bakun submarine cable in 3 months time

Friday November 6, 2009By JACK WONG

KUCHING: The open international tender for the proposed submarine cable project to transmit electricity from Bakun hydro dam in Sarawak to Peninsular Malaysia is expected to be called in three months. Sarawak Hidro Sdn Bhd managing director Zulkifle Osman said a German consultant was now helping the special purpose vehicle set up by the Tenaga Nasional Bhd-Sarawak Energy Bhd consortium to prepare the tender documents. Sarawak Hidro, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Finance Ministry Inc, is the dam’s developer and manager.

Zulkifle said submission for the tender was expected to close in August next year. The tenders are for the fabrication and laying of cables across the South China Sea. “The first of the two submarine cables is expected to be completed by 2016 and the second a year later,’’ Zulkifle told a media briefing on the Bakun project here on Wednesday night, adding that each of the two submarine cables would transmit 800MW.

He said the actual route for the laying of the undersea cables, from Tanjung Pueh, Sematan in Sarawak to the southernmost tip in Johor, had yet to be determined. The cables, ranging from 670km to 700km, have to go through Indonesian waters.

The Bakun electricity will first be transferred through Syarikat Sesco Bhd lines to Bintulu and then Kuching before being linked to the submarine cables. Syarikat Sesco is a wholly-owned subsidiary of listed Sarawak Energy Bhd. The company was formerly known as Sarawak Electricity Supply Corp before it was privatised in July 2005.

Zulkifle said the dam, which has an installed capacity of 2,400MW, would be fully operational by 2011. The first of the dam’s eight turbines, which could each generate 300MW, is expected to be commissioned in October or November next year. However, he said the amount of electricity to be generated from Bakun initially would depend on the demand as Sarawak now have an excess of some 200MW.

Power from Bakun is also expected to be exported to neighbouring Brunei.
Zukifle said the dam’s civil as well as electrical and mechanical packages were more than 90% completed.

He added that the project’s actual development cost had not been determined, noting that Sarawak Hidro has not fully utilised the RM4.3bil it had borrowed to finance the Bakun dam construction.

MAHB: Revenue from foreign markets to rise

From Goh Thean Eu Published: 2009/10/31

ISTANBUL: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) (5014) expects revenue from foreign markets to make up one-tenth of group revenue in 10 years, as it expands globally.

Currently, foreign sales contribute less than 2 per cent of group revenue. Last year, the group made RM1.5 billion in revenue.

According to MAHB chairman Tan Sri Dr Aris Othman, growth does not solely depend on the number of airports it operates, but on the number of businesses it is involved in each of the airports.

"You need to depend on other businesses like hotels, car parks, ground handling and others. Of course, we would like to get more opportunities in these areas," Aris said here yesterday.
Aris and a group of senior management team members of MAHB are in Istanbul to take part in the launch of Istanbul's Sabiha Gocken International Airport (ISG).

The new terminal will be launched by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan this evening.

Aris added that the company is in talks with a few airport operators for the possibility of joint bids and partnerships.

Nevertheless, the MAHB chairman expects the firm's next overseas venture to be within the next two to five years.

SILK: Contribution from new unit starts this financial year

Published: 2009/10/31

TOLL road operator SILK Holdings Bhd will start seeing positive contribution from its recently acquired oil and gas services unit this financial year ending July 31 2010.

However, it will continue to post an accounting loss.

"We'll start seeing positive contribution from AQL Aman Sdn Bhd, but amortisation of the tolled road assets is still a big factor," said executive chairman Datuk Mohammed Azlan Hashim.

"The highway operation is still a large part of SILK's business so it will be another year showing accounting loss," he told reporters after the company's annual general meeting in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

The 37-km SILK Highway in southeast of Klang Valley links Balakong, Serdang, Sungai Long, Bangi, Kajang, Putrajaya and Semenyih.



Earlier, SILK shareholders approved a proposal that preferential shares be converted to ordinary shares when they mature in three years.

"Instead of coming up with RM20 million cash, we'll see an expanded capital base then," he said.

Following the purchase of the oil and gas business, SILK's gearing level has swelled to 7.8 times from 5.5.

Mohammed Azlan said once the ICULS (or irredeemable convertible unsecured loan stock) is converted to shares in three years, gearing should drop to 5.8 times.

He believes that SILK's prospects in the oil and gas sector is promising, given that the industry requires about 60 to 70 new platforms in the next three years.

Two or three anchor handling tug supply vessels and straight supply vessels are required for each platform for the purpose of transportation and logistic support. This translates to an additional demand of at least 120 new offshore support vessels.

"AQL Aman's 70 per cent subsidiary (Jasa Merin (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd) is operating 12 vessels in the South China Sea on long term service contracts with oil majors such as Petronas, Esso and Murphy Oil," Mohammed Azlan said.

Iskandar Investment, UK college in landmark deal

Published: 2009/10/31

ISKANDAR Investment Bhd (IIB), the catalytic developer of Iskandar Malaysia in Johor, is expected to reveal numerous investments in the south economic region over the next few months. "We continue to have growing interest from potential investors worldwide, who see potential in Iskandar Malaysia," said Khazanah Nasional Bhd managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar.

IIB, a unit controlled by the state-owned Khazanah, is on track to surpass the US$13 billion (RM43.94 billion) foreign direct investment target for its first phase of development.

Yesterday, Education@Iskandar Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of IIB, signed a landmark agreement to develop Marlborough College Malaysia, as part of a long-term plan to establish EduCity - located within Iskandar Malaysia - as a world-class education hub.

The signing was witnessed by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also Education Minister.

"Malaysia is an emerging contender to attract international students and the agreement between Iskandar Investment and Marlborough College is testament that we are moving in the right direction to become a global education hub in Asia," Muhyiddin said.

There are some 16,000 international students studying in private and international schools in Malaysia.

Marlborough College Malaysia is the first international venture for the leading British independent, co-educational boarding school for pupils aged between 13 and 18.

Muhibbah sues GPSB

BT
Published: 2009/10/31

MUHIBBAH Engineering (M) Bhd (MEB) has filed a lawsuit against Gerbang Perdana Sdn Bhd (GPSB) over unpaid contracts totalling RM32.7 million. GPSB was the main contractor for the Gerbang Selatan Bersepadu project in Johor Baru. It had appointed MEB as the subcontractor to execute part of works in the bridge project. MEB was instructed to cease works by GPSB in 2006, following the cancellation of the project by the government.