RM7 mln for dredging project at Melaka Marina Jetty - chief minister

MELAKA, Jan 13 -- The federal government disbursed funding of about RM7 million for the deepening and maintenance of the coastal seabed project at the Melaka Marina port jetty which has restarted operations in October last year.

Melaka Chief Minister Adly Zahari 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 of Malaysia, was utilised for dredging works with a depth of four metres covering an area of 500 metres offshore from the jetty which was undertaken in mid-2019.

"The upgrading and maintenance works has enabled Melaka 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 Melaka, 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 here, today.

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

Adly said the state government would 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