RM7m for dredging project at Malacca Marina jetty: CM

The federal government disbursed funding of about RM7 million for the deepening and maintenance of the coastal seabed project at the Malacca Marina port jetty which has restarted operations in October last year.

Malacca Chief Minister Adly Zahari (above) said the project, which has been completed, had enabled the port jetty to assume its role as a tourist transit centre via sea route, especially cruise ships, hence further spurring the tourism industry in the state.

He said the allocation, channelled through the Marine Department, was utilised for dredging works with a depth of 4m covering an area of 500m offshore from the jetty which was undertaken in mid-2019.

"The upgrading and maintenance works has enabled Malacca Marina to restart operations after being faced with the issue of shallow waters.

"The cruise ship tourism industry has a huge development potential as more than 100 ships from all over the world pass through the Straits of Malacca, and since being operational last October, the Melaka Marina jetty has received transits of close to 60 cruise ships with an estimated 2,000 passengers per ship,” he told reporters in Malacca, today.

Earlier, Adly welcomed the arrival of tourists from a luxury cruise ship at Malacca Marina port jetty, Kota Laksamana, which was also attended by the general manager of the Melaka Tourism Promotion Division Zairi Suboh.

Adly said the state government will continue to cooperate with the federal government to implement other upgrading projects at the area in phases, besides planning several strategies to further drive the state tourism industry.

Adly was previously quoted as saying Melaka recorded arrivals of some 13.67 million tourists in the first nine months of 2019, up from 13.02 million in the same period in 2018.

Melaka has targeted 20 million tourist arrivals for 2019.

- Bernama