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The decision to run the Penang ferry
services as a subsidiary of Penang Port Sdn Bhd (PPSB) is now
final.
The PPSB board of directors, in a meeting on Friday, had approved
the move to separate the ferry service into an entity of its own
and the official proposal documents, which are expected to be
ready in about three days, will be handed over to the Economic
Planning Unit (EPU) and the Finance and Transport ministries.
PPSB managing director Datuk Ahmad Ibnihajar said everything was
expected to be settled smoothly after this.
"Hopefully, the ferry service will be operating as a separate
entity by January," he said yesterday.
It was reported last month that the EPU had instructed the ferry
service to be separated from the port's operations.
The move was part of the port's restructuring plan to be listed on
Bursa Malaysia.
PPSB, with eight ferries plying the Penang Channel between the
Abdul Halim Ferry Terminal on the island and the Raja Uda Ferry
Terminal in Butterworth, recorded RM24.6 million in losses last year due to the petrol price
hike, compared with RM14.4 million losses in 2007.
The huge losses had kept PPSB from becoming a public-listed
company.
Ahmad, speaking at a Hari Raya Aidilfitri open house at Tanjung
City Marina, organised by PPSB for some 10,000 staff members and
their families, said the port expected a RM50 million profit next
year following the separation.
When asked if ferry fares would increase, he said PPSB wanted to
first focus on its services to the public.
"We shall see when the time comes," he said.
Meanwhile, on an earlier proposal to collaborate with bus operator
Rapid Penang Sdn Bhd to use the ferries to transport the buses and
their passengers onboard to the mainland and vice-versa on a
one-ticket fare, Ahmad said talks would be held between the two
companies as soon as possible. |
