WORK ON THE NEW TOWNSHIP OF SAMALAJU IN BINTULU WILL START NEXT YEAR WITH ITS FULL COMPLETION EXPECTED BETWEEN FIVE AND 10 YEARS.

Work On Bintulu's RM1.5 Billion New Township To Start Next Year

KUCHING, May 10 (Bernama) -- Work on the new township of Samalaju in Bintulu will start next year with its full completion expected between five and 10 years.

The township, located 60km from Bintulu town, will occupy 2,200 hectares of land and be equipped with wifi facilities, said Naim Holdings Bhd (Naim) Chief Operating Officer, Datuk William Wei.

He said the town will be developed under several phases with the first phase involving 5,000 units of houses next year for general workers from the nearby Samalaju Industrial Park and also houses for executives expected to work in the park.

"The exact cost of the township has not been finalised but it will easily reach an estimated RM1.5 billion," he told reporters after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Naim, Cahya Mata Sarawak (CMS) Bhd and Bintulu Development Authority (BDA) here, on Monday.

Wei represented Naim while CMS was represented by its Group Managing Director Datuk Richard Curtis and BDA was represented by its General Manager Datuk Mohidin Ishak.

The MoU was for the establishment of a joint venture between Naim, CMS and BDA to develop the Samalaju township with Naim holding 60 per cent equity, CMS 30 per cent and BDA 10 per cent.

BDA is the state government agency tasked with the physical planning and development of Bintulu town which houses the Petronas Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) Complex, currently the world's largest liquefied natural gas production facility on a single site. It has an annual production of 23 million tonnes.

The state goverment set up Samalaju Industrial Park for the development of heavy industries including a poly-silicon plant, aluminium smelter and the development of the Samalaju Port.

Mohidin said apart from residential units and commercial centres, the new township will have public facilities like schools, police station, clinics and recreational infrastructures as part of the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (Score) development.