KUALA LUMPUR (June 28): The federal government has approved RM333.51 million more in funding for Suria Capital Holdings Bhd’s Sapangan Bay container port expansion programme, which raises the cost of the entire project to RM1.13 billion.

In a bourse filing today, Suria Capital said the approval for the increase in funding from the federal government came following a recommendation by the Value Management Lab for the Sabah Development Corridor project. 

“The additional funding is to cover the cost of the expansion. Sabah Ports Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Suria Capital, the operator of the port will be responsible in procuring the cargo handling equipment and the additional yard to achieve the 1.25 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) capacity,” it added.

To recap, Suria Capital announced in February that Sabah Ports had been appointed as the implementing agency for the Sapangar Bay container port expansion programme under the Eleventh Malaysia Plan (MP11).  

Construction work for the first stage of the development is expected to commence in early 2017 and expected to be completed by 2019.

Shares of Suria Capital closed 2 sen or 1.03% lower at RM1.93 today, for a market capitalisation of RM556.2 million.