SANDAKAN: Sandakan is moving to streamline its barter trade operations with the southern Philippines by tackling an ageing jetty, fragmented port facilities and bureaucratic restrictions.
Sandakan Municipal Council president Datuk Walter Kenson said a special committee would identify operational, logistical and regulatory problems before proposing solutions to the state and Federal governments.
He said Sandakan stood to gain significantly because communities in the southern Philippines depended heavily on goods supplied from the district.
“The potential for barter trade in Sandakan is enormous, and Sandakan stands to benefit more than the southern Philippines because they need us to send goods more than we need to receive their goods.
“So the economic spillover will favour us. Why should we not capitalise on and optimise the opportunities available?” he said after a special district development action committee meeting here, Wednesday (July 29).
Walter said one option was to place the barter trade and main port operations within the same complex to reduce administrative, logistical and security costs while improving transshipment activities.
However, the proposal would require approval at higher levels as it involved several agencies and border security policies.
Sandakan, on Sabah’s east coast, is the state’s closest major town to the southern Philippines.
Meanwhile, Sandakan MP Vivian Wong Shir Yee said the existing barter trade jetty was badly deteriorated and unable to accommodate larger vessels or heavier cargo, driving up transportation costs.
She pointed to Tawau, where barter trade and port activities were being conducted in the same area, as a model Sandakan could consider.
“If both ports can operate in the same area, operations will be better and it will benefit developers or shippers. Transshipment can also be carried out in the same place,” she said.
Wong also raised concerns over restrictions imposed by different ministries and agencies, including rules preventing vessel crew members from going ashore to eat or drink.
She said the committee would identify the agencies and regulations behind each obstacle, while the government should either upgrade the existing jetty or consolidate the two port operations.
