Sarawak Speaker: Bill to establish Sarawak Ports Authority to be tabled in next legislative assembly
KUCHING, May 4 — A Bill to establish the Sarawak Ports Authority (SPA) that will streamline and consolidate the management, operation, and planning of all authorities will be tabled in next week’s sitting of the Sarawak Legislative Assembly.
Speaker Tan Sri Asfia Awang Nasar said the Bill will also seek to reform the governance structure and regulatory framework of the port operation, including the harmonisation of port dues, vessels, port charges, and fees.
“It is also to make provisions for the privatisation of all port management and operation, and port undertakings in Sarawak,” he told reporters after the pre-council meeting of the legislators of Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).
Asfia said the Deputy Premier and Minister of Infrastructure and Ports Development Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah will table the Bill on May 7 in the Sarawak Legislative Assembly.
Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg had said last month that the state government will establish a central port authority to manage all ports in the state.
The premier has said the ports will include the Kuching Port, Miri Port, Tanjung Manis Port, Sibu Port, and the Bintulu Port when it is handed over by the federal government as a Sarawak port.
Abang Johari said Sarawak is developing renewable energy and definitely, all these ports will play a role.
Asfia also told reporters that five bills will be tabled when the Sarawak Legislative Assembly sits from May 6 to May 15.
Apart from the Sarawak Ports Authority Bill, the rest are the Supplementary Supply Bill, 2023/2024, the Supplementary Supply Bill, 2024, the Protection of Public Health (Amendment) Bill, 2024, and the Sarawak Forestry Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2024.
Abang Johari will table a ministerial motion to express the state’s gratitude to former Governor the late Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud for his contributions.
Governor Tun Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar will open the legislative assembly’s sitting on the first day.
