Port operator hopes to tie up expansion talks with Penang
Penang Port Commission says they need two parcels of land for expansion purposes as they expect more tourist arrivals this year.
GEORGE TOWN: Penang’s Swettenham Pier International Cruise Terminal recorded more than a million local and foreign passengers last year, the Penang Port Commission (PPC) said today.
PPC chairman Tan Teik Cheng said with such numbers, he was hopeful it would boost the commission’s case in talks with the DAP-led state government on land matters and expansion plans.
Tan was responding to a comment by Penang tourism exco Danny Law who, on Sunday, suggested that the terminal needed to be expanded as the cruise tourism business in the state was growing.
“This year we are going to get many cruise liners coming. We already received over a million passengers last year.
“There is no other motive (for the expansion). We can set aside politics. We just want to grow the cruise tourism industry, which brings good business to industry players like taxi drivers,” said Tan, who is also Penang MCA chairman.
PPC, which is under the transport ministry, is leasing the terminal land from the Penang government.
Tan said there is a RM200 million expansion plan for the terminal so it can receive larger cruise liners.
“We are still in talks with the state. We are trying to get a 99-year lease for two lots, where the pier’s complex and terminal are located.
“Without settling the issue and getting the land titles for both lots, we cannot expand the terminal,” he told reporters today at the PPC office.
Both sides are in a dispute after the state rescinded its earlier approvals to lease the lots to PPC for 99 years in 2010, and returned more than RM14 million to PPC, being premium payments.
Without the approval, PPC currently has no land titles for the two lots that measure 8,093.713 sq m (2 acres) and 12,140.57 sq m (3 acres) respectively, hampering the expansion plan for the terminal.
Currently, the two lots are on temporary six months occupation certificates.
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It was reported in October last year that Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Aziz offered to mediate the terminal land talks between the Penang government and the Transport Ministry.