Proposed Score railway to be ready by 2015

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

source:

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