KL to build large port

KL to build large port

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): A Taiwanese company has announced plans to build a large port in southern Malaysia's Malacca state, in what local officials said yesterday could be a major boost to the state's industrial fortunes.

The one billion ringgit (US$400 million) port proposed by the Orna Group at Malacca city is likely to be built as a joint venture, the officials said, adding that it would largely serve the ambitious expansion plans of the area's steel industry.

"If this goes through, it'll be the first Malaysian port set up by a foreign company and could do a lot of good for Malacca's industries," local foreign investment official Ng Peng Hee told AFP by telephone from the state, some 160 kilometers (100 miles) from Kuala Lumpur.

Ng said executives of Malacca-based Ornasteel Corp. were expected to seek approval for the port from Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad today, when the premier is to open the firm's new plant in the state.