Teluk Ewa Has Potential to Become Langkawi's Trading Port

By Noor Farhana Ahmad Norain KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 (Bernama) -- Langkawi is poised to become a trading hub in the Asian region if Teluk Ewa, located at the northern part of the island, is developed into a bigger port, said Langkawi Member of Parliament, Nawawi Ahmad. He said the waters at Teluk Ewa have a natural depth of 18 to 30 metres, making it suitable for large trading vessels to pass through or to dock at the port. “I would like to propose that the port at Teluk Ewa be expanded to accommodate a lot of vessels, simultaneously allowing cargo ships with 20,000 twenty-foot equivalent units capacity to enter Langkawi. “The port would enable Langkawi to connect to and shorten the trade passageway between the Indian Ocean and South China Sea, which currently has to pass through Singapore,” he told Bernama after appearing as a guest on Bernama News Channel’s Nine 11 programme here, Monday. Nawawi said there are currently 700 trading vessels which pass through the Straits of Malacca for trading purposes, a journey which could take up to a week due to its narrow passageway. He added that the Teluk Ewa trade port would ease the journey for the cargo vessels, estimating that it would take only between three and four hours to reach Songkhla Port in southern Thailand. Meanwhile, on the proposal to upgrade the Langkawi International Airport, which was announced in Budget 2018 recently, he said that it would provide more comfort to local and foreign visitors to the island, which have been increasing each year. “Currently, the Langkawi airport, which operates 16 hours a day, receives more than two million visitors daily, and we expect the number to increase with the introduction of more direct flights from overseas next year. “The upgrading works are currently in progress, with an allocation of RM89 million, that will enable the airport to accommodate three million visitors at any one time,” he said. Nawawi said that in 2016, Langkawi received 3.63 million tourists, with 262 flights scheduled per week. Its tourism receipts had also increased to more than RM6 billion last year compared with RM3.8 billion recorded in 2015. -- BERNAMA