KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 1): Tanco Holdings Bhd (KL:TANCO) said its 79%-owned subsidiary, Midports Holdings Sdn Bhd (MHSB), had received the nod from the Malaysian Marine Department (MMD) to develop a container port in Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan.
The green light was received through a full and unconditional approval letter on Monday by the MMD, Tanco said, following the acceptance of the marine risk assessment report from MHSB.
Just last Friday, MMD issued a separate approval letter, “with certain conditions for the development and operations” of the proposed port project.
The newest letter, however, “supersedes the previous approval letter”, Tanco said in a filing.
Among the conditions previously underlined included for any changes on the proposed development and operations of the port project “to be informed to and applied with the MMD”.
The latest approval also includes permission for all marine activities as per the port project, Tanco said.
The Negeri Sembilan container port project received a green light from the Ministry of Transport back in January.
The port is to be developed within a 480-acre (194.25 hectares) land bank owned by Tanco, according to its official website. It will feature a 1.8km jetty, terminal and container handling area measuring 809,300 sq m.
On June 6, MHSB signed a memorandum of understanding with China’s CCCC Dredging (Group) Co Ltd to further advance the project.
MHSB’s remaining 21% stake is held by Global Marque Logistics Sdn Bhd, which in turns is 75.23%-owned by MHSB executive director Datuk Chuah Lim Leng.
Shares of Tanco settled up two sen or 1.47% to close at RM1.38 on Tuesday, giving the company a market capitalisation of RM2.47 billion. The counter is up 133.9% this year.