TRANS-BORNEO RAILWAY | Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei, Indonesia

Railway for SCORE
By Patrick Joseph July 9th, 2008

State’s first train in modern era to run in central region, says Taib

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BINTULU: Sarawak is to build railway in Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) to facilitate development in the growth area, Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said here yesterday.

He said rail transportation would be a cheaper alternative compared with cargo trucks that were presently used.

Opening the Residents and District Officers’ Conference, the Chief Minister said logistics development in the corridor which stretched for 320km from Similajau in Bintulu Division to Tanjong Manis in Mukah Division needed to look at, among other things, the rising price of fuel as SCORE was a mammoth development plan.

Taib, however, did not indicate the cost of the railway project but said its development would go beyond 2020.

The chief minister said SCORE, which was launched by the prime minister in February this year, was to speed up the development of the state’s central region.

According to him, the central region was comparatively lagging behind the northern and southern regions.

Saying that SCORE would be the final phase for the completion of the state’s development, Taib said the corridor was expected to attract about RM300 billion worth of investments in the next three decades.

Of the amount, he said, at least RM230 billion would come from the private sector.

He also said many of the workers and entrepreneurs from the central region had been moving to other places in the state like Kuching or Miri in search of business and employment opportunities, adding that this was a loss to the region.

Taib said the potential for development in the central region were enormous and they included projects relating to aluminium, coal, paper and pulp and oil and gas.

He said oil, agriculture and fishing industries in the region were already bearing fruits and more needed to be done to further expand the industries and the development of corridor would augur well.

Mukah for instance, according to Taib, had a huge reserve of coal that amounted to billions of tonnes and what was needed was good infrastructure and related efforts to extract it.

He also told the divisional residents and district officers in the state to work together in shaping the minds of the people in their area of jurisdiction to prepare them to get the maximum benefits from the development of SCORE.

Touching on education, Taib reminded parents to ensure their children received the right kind of education, possessed the right skills and talents to meet the future demands and challenges.

About 300 people are attending the three-day conference themed ‘Sarawak Corridor Development: Reshaping Human Talents for the Future’ which started Monday.

Housing Minister Dato Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg and Environment and Public Health Minister Datuk Michael Manyin were among those present during the opening ceremony.

Sarawak to build railway network
By STEPHEN THEN July 9th, 2008

BINTULU: Sarawak is to embark on a pioneer project to build a railway network, the first ever railway project in this vast state.

The railway project will have a dual purpose - to provide a relatively cheaper yet reliable form of mass transportation for the people, and to facilitate the movement of raw materials and goods for the construction of the projects that will be carried out in the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE).

Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud on Tuesday said a railway system is the most viable and cheapest form of fast transportation for massive bulk of both goods and people.

''This will be the first railway in Sarawak. The main area involved will span the (320km) stretch between Similajau in Bintulu Division and Tanjung Manis in Mukah division. That area comprises 57% of Sarawak.

''The rail project will be a viable alternative of transportation in view of the constantly rising costs of fuel and other costs.

''The SCORE project will bring tremendous benefits and opportunities, not only in terms of industries, but also other spin-offs for the people of the state,'' he said at the state-level Conference of District officers and Residents held in this gas capital of Sarawak.

Taib, who is also the state's 1st Finance Minister and state's 1st Minister for Planning and Resources Management, however, did not disclose the cost of the railway project nor the date for the project to commence.

He said the Government will be spending some RM67bil to develop the basic infrastructure needed for SCORE to proceed.

''We have now obtained up to RM300bil in investment pledges. The majority will be from private sectors,'' he said.

Taib said the SCORE project will also see the development of the coal industry, which Sarawak has more than one billion tonnes in reserve.

He noted that up to 20,000 MWs of power will be developed within the next 30 years and during that period, Sarawak will be able to provide cheap and efficient electricity to the people in the state and country.

A RM1.5bil plant to produce halal food will also be constructed in the region, he added.

''The Federal Government had already allocated RM3bil to the state to kickstart SCORE,'' he said

Sarawak hopes to SCORE with railway link
October 14th, 2008

KUCHING: Sarawak plans to build a railway link between Similajau and Tanjung Manis by 2030 to facilitate the transportation of goods in the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE).

Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said the railway project would be studied in conjunction with the development of the Similajau Port in Bintulu division.

“I think it will go to Igan (in central Sarawak) first. Beyond that, it depends on the development of the corridor,” he told reporters after opening a parliamentary discourse on government yesterday.

He added that if the proposed halal hub and deep-sea fishing in Tanjung Manis, in Mukah division, went according to plan in the next seven or eight years, the extension of the railway would become more feasible.

“That’s our ambition €“ to see before the year 2030 a rail link between Similajau and Tanjung Manis that will cut the time of transportation in the whole of the SCORE area,” he said.

The 320km-long corridor in Sarawak’s central region was launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in February and will tap into the state’s vast energy resources.

Earlier Taib said, in his speech, that Sarawak had the potential to develop 20,000MW of hydroelectricity and 8,000MW of power from coal-fired stations in SCORE.

“This will give us the ability to attract projects that consume a lot of energy, such as aluminium smelting, iron and steel, and glass manufacturing,” he said. He also said the state would not focus on energy-intensive industries alone but would also develop the agriculture sector, particularly fishing and aquaculture.

In addition, he said SCORE would generate employment opportunities for the state, including 30,000 managerial positions and 70,000 technical and professional jobs.

“We will have to increase our educational institutions and skills-training centres in the next 10 to 15 years to meet this employment need,” he added.

Proposed Score railway to be ready by 2015
October 14th, 2008

DAMAI: The proposed rapid railway system (RRS) for the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (Score) is expected to be in place by 2015 to complement the development of its halal hub and deep-sea fishing industry, Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said yesterday.

He said the project’s feasibility study would also take into consideration the development of the Similajau deep-sea port in Bintulu to connect the 320km regional corridor in the state’s central region up to Tanjung Manis in Mukah division.

“It is our ambition to connect the whole of Score by a railway corridor before 2030 to cut down on transportation time,” Taib told reporters after officiating at the opening of the three-day parliamentary discourse on government entitled “Scenario Planning and Change Management: Managing Score and the Future”.

However, Taib said, a detailed feasibility study needed to be conducted first as such a railway network would be costly to develop due to the region’s topography, including the soft soil of the Batang Rajang delta.

Earlier in his speech, Taib said about RM9 billion would be spent on infrastructure development in Score, which was projected to attract more than RM300 billion worth of investments in the next 30 years.

He was confident that Score, which was expected to create 1.5 million jobs by 2030, would present immense opportunities and challenges in transforming Sarawak and ensuring that its economic spin-off effects would give the people a sense of fair distribution in income.

The location of the state’s vast natural resources for renewable energy, including hydro and coal within Score, justified the development of the 70,000-sq-km corridor, which had the potential to attract heavy industries such as aluminium smelter plants, he said. — Bernama

Sarawak’s railway dream
By Samuel Aubrey Thursday, August 6th, 2009
Source: http://www.theborneopost.com/?p=56070



FOR YOU: Jabu (right) hands over a book on ‘Pehin Sri Abdul Taib and the
Emergence of Modern Sarawak’ to Rahim at the end of their discussion.

KL said to have responded positively, at least in SCORE area

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KUCHING: A railway system for Sarawak now looks set to be realised within the next 15 to 20 years.

Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu, who is also Minister of Infrastructure Development and Communication, yesterday held a discussion with Deputy Minister of Transport Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri on the possibility of building the railway system.

Speaking to reporters later, Jabu said the federal government, represented by Rahim, had responded positively to the idea.

He also said the railway system is now at planning stage, and could be included in the proposal of projects from Sarawak in the 10th Malaysia Plan or 11th Malaysia Plan.

“The first priority for the railway system, as mentioned by Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, will be in the areas under SCORE (Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy).

“The locations have yet to be identified, but because of the intensification of activities within SCORE area, priority will be on the transportation of goods and bulk cargo from the industries to the other areas,” he said.

Jabu said the railway system may also link the ports of Bintulu, Similajau and Tanjung Manis, all of which will be the entry and exit points for materials and products either going in or out of industries in SCORE.

He also did not dismiss the possibility of the railway system to be the next public transportation for Sarawak, although he was quick to stress that the main priority would still be on transportation of goods and cargo.

Rahim, a Sabahan, welcomed the plan by Sarawak to have its own railway system.

He said he hoped to see the two East Malaysian states to be eventually linked by railway in the near future in line with the 1Malaysia concept.

He said the linking act would be a logical move because Sabah already has its own railway system that now runs for about 200km.

“In respect of railway transport, I think this is the area which Sabah and Sarawak can look at. Because in many developed countries, railway transport system is always the backbone of the main transportation system, whether it is in Europe, China, India, America or Australia.

“For the future of land transportation system in the land of Borneo, I think it is good to have initial planning. As you know, our Trans-Borneo road is more or less completed, but the railway system can facilitate the movement of goods between the states, and eventually will be linked to the southern part of Borneo.

“It is good to have this sort of beginning. Maybe in the next 15 to 20 years there will be a lot of development towards this effect,” he said.

Foreseeing a railway system connecting Sabah and Sarawak within the next 100 years, he said rail services were proven to be a cheaper mode of transport, more efficient and environmentally friendly.

Relating the Sabah experience, he said the Sabah State Railway, a state-owned agency, recently received RM400 million from the federal government to upgrade its services.

The railway in Sabah runs through Kota Kinabalu, Beaufort and Tenom.

To another question, he said it would be up to Sarawak to decide if its railway system would be funded by the federal or the state governments.

He added that it would also take a lot of political will to get the idea realised within the soonest time possible.

It is time for real leadership in public transport
Moaz Yusuf Ahmad, Jun 9, 10
http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/134073

The members of the Association for the Improvement of Mass-Transit have noted that this appears to be a week of major change and announcements for public transport. We have a new Minister of Transport, Kong Cho Ha, who intends to focus on public transport. The Land Public Transport Commission (Spad) was created on June 1 with Syed Hamid Albar as the first chair.

We also have the recent announcement of unsolicited proposals for an MRT network in the Klang Valley and a high-speed rail route between KL and Singapore. In addition, Prime Minister Najib Razak will introduce the 10th Malaysia Plan on Thursday.

Despite all these changes, Transit wonders how much effort is being made to shift our public transport industry from an 'entrepreneurial' model to a 'service-based' model. The recent unsolicited proposals appear to be another example of 'entrepreneurial' public transport, just on a much larger economic scale. Instead of trying to make money directly from the public transport user, these developers are trying to make money directly and indirectly from government mega-projects.

No matter how much money is invested into mega-projects, we will never see an improved public transport system unless there is improved leadership and a real push towards a service-based model. We can only hope that with Prime Minister Najib as minister-in-charge, Syed Hamid Albar as chair, and Mohd Nor Ismail Nor Kamal as CEO, the Land Public Transport Commission will be proactive leadership, with a clear vision for public transport and the confidence and ability to move the industry forward, not backwards. Similarly, we hope that Kong Cho Ha, as minister of transport, will put people first not companies first.

Before we look at LRT and MRT projects and spending perhaps RM50billion to expand the rail network in the Klang Valley, we must first improve the reliability and availability of the existing bus services in the Klang Valley and other cities throughout Malaysia. The best way to do this is in two simple steps:

First, Spad must work with the minister of transport, local and state governments to create Public Transport Organising Authorities for the six largest urban areas in Malaysia - namely the Klang Valley, Johor Baru, Penang, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu and Ipoh.

The Organising Authorities - which could be government agencies (like the Penang Transport Council), private companies (like RapidKL) or responsible agencies (like the Iskandar Regional Development Authority) - would be responsible for the planning, management and organisation of public transport in their respective regions.

That means, they would work with existing public transport operators to improve the availability and reliability of basic public transport services and expand those services to meet the social and economic needs of each region.

Second, as part of the 10th Malaysia Plan, the government would give RM1billion to each of the six Organizing Authorities. The Organizing Authorities would then invest this money (and more which they would raise themselves) into creating complete and sustainable rapid transit networks.

At current prices, RM1billion will buy either 4km of LRT (at RM250mn/km), 10km of Monorail (at RM100mn/km), 20km of RapidTram (at RM50mn/km), or between 50 and 80 km of bus rapid transit (at RM10-15mn/km). Although RM6 billion may not seem like a large amount of money (compared to RM30-50 billion that some suggest is needed), if the money is spent in the most cost-effective manner, we can build the complete, reliable public transport networks that our cities need.

Once public transport in these six cities has been stabilized by the Organizing Authority, and a complete rapid transit network is in place, the government can start looking at larger scale investment projects like MRT and High Speed Rail.

Earlier attempts to solve the problems in our public transport industry have involved spending bigger and bigger amounts of money -but because the fundamentals have not changed, the money has not led to the expected results.

If we really wish to improve public transport, those in charge must be capable of leading the push forwards. For this reason, TRANSIT urges the public to contact Prime Minister Najib Razak at [email protected] or his twitter feed @NajibRazak and tell him that we need him to take the lead, for the sake of better public transport throughout Malaysia - not just in the Klang Valley.