Dr Wee visits Eastern Steel plant in Kerteh

PETALING JAYA: Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong paid a courtesy visit to Eastern Steel Sdn Bhd's plant in Kerteh, Terengganu.

Dr Wee said he visited the massive 1200-acre plant during his official working tour of ports on the East Coast this weekend.

"In their briefing and overview of ongoing construction of the plant, Eastern Steel's management led by Tan Sri David Law informed that with a yearly output of one million tonnes, Eastern Steel is Kemaman Port's largest customer by volume and ships 70% of their products internationally," he said in a statement on his Facebook page on Friday (Jan 14).

Dr Wee said the high demand for their products has made it necessary for Eastern Steel to pump in RM3bil to complete their second phase expansion by 2023 to increase output to three million tonnes per annum.

"With completion of the second phase, only half the land has been utilised, and prime for further expansion. This should go a long way to boost the local economy as well.

"I'm very happy to know too that out of 1,700 employees, 1,001 are locals. And each new phase will also create 1,000 jobs for our local talents," he said.

Dr Wee added that the Kemaman Port, together with his Ministry will need to plan ahead and be prepared to accommodate this growing need for more handling capacity among their customers in the future.