The ambitious Bintulu Port project in Sarawak has succumbed to weak economic conditions as well, with operating company Bintulu Port Holdings (BPH) saying it has rescheduled several of its major development projects for the port local reports said.

BPH ceo Mior Ahmad Baiti Mior Lub Ahmad said as there was no urgency to implement the proposed projects mooted two years ago, they have been delayed to 2018 and beyond.

The projects include the construction of a 400 m general cargo wharf and 300 m bulk fertilizer wharf, both planned for the 2nd Inner harbour, the conversion of the 300 m general cargo wharf for container operations, an additional petrochemical jetty and a petrochemical tank farm.

“We had earlier budgeted some RM200 m in capital expenditure (capex) between 2016 and 2018 to fund these proposed projects,” he added.

He said that by delaying the implementation period of the projects, this had much reduced BPH’s capex for this year and 2017.

Updating on the Samalaju Industrial Port project, Mior Ahmad said the phase 1 development, which caters for handymax and handysize vessels, is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2017 and is slated to begin operations in April next year.

By then, energy-intensive industries like aluminium, ferrosilicon and manganese alloy smelters will shift the import of raw materials and the export of finished products from Bintulu Port to Samalaju Port, which is designed to serve the Samalaju industries.