THE Malaysian government will respect Thailand's decision if it goes ahead with the Kra Canal project, Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Kamarudin Jaffar told the Dewan Negara, Malaysia's upper house.
Mr Kamarudin said he did not foresee the project that would cut across the Malay Peninsula to provide a direct route from the Far East to Suez, would have a huge impact on Malaysian ports.
Senator Mohd Suhaimi Abdullah had asked the government's response after Thailand announced it would review the construction of the 102-kilometre canal that stands to have ships bypass Singapore.
But Mr Kamarudin said the country's ports had shown progress based on a nine per cent increase in cargo handling in the first quarter of this year, compared with the same period last year.
He said the overall performance of container handling in Malaysian ports was recorded at 6,315,457 TEU. He said Penang, Port Klang and Tanjung Pelepas had drawn up masterplans encompassing the expansion and modernisation of port infrastructure.
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Mr Kamarudin said he did not foresee the project that would cut across the Malay Peninsula to provide a direct route from the Far East to Suez, would have a huge impact on Malaysian ports.
Senator Mohd Suhaimi Abdullah had asked the government's response after Thailand announced it would review the construction of the 102-kilometre canal that stands to have ships bypass Singapore.
But Mr Kamarudin said the country's ports had shown progress based on a nine per cent increase in cargo handling in the first quarter of this year, compared with the same period last year.
He said the overall performance of container handling in Malaysian ports was recorded at 6,315,457 TEU. He said Penang, Port Klang and Tanjung Pelepas had drawn up masterplans encompassing the expansion and modernisation of port infrastructure.
WORLD SHIPPING