According to a report in an English daily, there would be an upgrade of Malacca’s existing port so that it can accommodate international shipping, from China at least. This is part of China’s 21st Century Maritime Silk Route economic belt (MSR). It was proposed by the Chinese President Xi Jinping for China to increase its maritime cooperation and explore trade opportunities. First part of this initiative starts with port expansion. It is an advantage that Malacca was a very famous port with connections to China many hundred years ago. Plus the fact that the relations between Malaysia-China has always been cordial.
This may be a long term plan for Malacca to be even more popular but I think the first thing which everyone should do would be to popularise the under-utilised Malacca International Airport. The frequency for planes are definitely higher and with international connections it meant that even more visitors can do short trips to Malacca too. This is just like how I have visited Medan from Penang a few times because it’s just a flight of 50 minutes away. For Malaysians, I think we would still be driving into Malacca. Right?
There are lots of reasons why I love to buy Malacca properties but for now, this would have nothing to do with my reason. Yes it is true, if this is done right and the cruise liners do make Malacca one of the stops, I think the benefit is tremendous. Imagine just one cruise ship with 1,000 tourists stopping by Malacca every 2 days. 🙂 This is still in the planning stage with ministers from both countries in a discussion and it may take a long time still. I seriously hope that this international port initiative should be promoted to China for more investments from both countries. This would ensure its success because both sides would then have interest to make it successful.
written on 21 Feb 2015
Next suggested article: Reasons, Numbers and Potential from my latest Melaka visit
