Melaka Gateway ( zh, c=马六甲皇京港) was an off-shore development of
artificial island
An artificial island is an island that has been constructed by people rather than formed by natural means. Artificial islands may vary in size from small islets reclaimed solely to support a single pillar of a building or structure to those tha ...
s in
Malacca
Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...
,
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
. It was launched on 7 February 2014 by
Malaysia's Prime Minister,
Dato' Seri Najib Bin Tun Abdul Razak, witnessed by
Malacca Chief Minister Idris Haron
Idris bin Haron (born 13 May 1966) is a Malaysian politician who served as the 10th Chief Minister of Melaka from May 2013 to May 2018, Member of the Melaka State Executive Council (EXCO) from March 2020 to resignation in October 2021, Memb ...
. It was expected to be open in 2018 and finished completely by 2025. In November 2020, the project was reported as scrapped by the State government stating that the developer of the Melaka Gateway project has failed to complete the reclamation works after three years as contracted. Malaccan Chief Minister
Sulaiman Md Ali was quoted as saying the Melaka Gateway project will not be abandoned but will be taken over by a new developer saying "The development will continue, but we have some technical issues that we need to fix."
KAJ Development Sdn Bhd (KAJD, zh, c=凯杰发展有限公司) was the developer of the project.
Reactions
In 2017,
Chief Minister of Malacca,
Idris Haron
Idris bin Haron (born 13 May 1966) is a Malaysian politician who served as the 10th Chief Minister of Melaka from May 2013 to May 2018, Member of the Melaka State Executive Council (EXCO) from March 2020 to resignation in October 2021, Memb ...
said he was serious in developing the state into a nautical gem of this region and could no longer tolerate any hiatus in proposed development projects laid by interested developers. The
Kristang community at the
Portuguese Settlement however said that they were not consulted by this project. The Portuguese community has been protesting the project ever since they found out about it. In May 2018, 200 villagers participated in a demonstration outside of the KAJ Development's office.
China's then-Minister of Transport, H.E.
Yang Chuantang
Yang Chuantang (; born May 1954) is a Chinese politician who served as the Minister of Transport of the People's Republic of China from 2012 to 2016. He has also served as the vice-chairman of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, governor of Qin ...
said: "With Malacca as the forefront flagship in support of the
One Belt, One Road
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, or B&R), formerly known as One Belt One Road ( zh, link=no, 一带一路) or OBOR for short, is a global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the Chinese government in 2013 to invest in nearly 150 ...
program initiated by the People's Republic of China, we will soon taste the fruits of success, especially with the plans for infrastructure,...China is confident in Melaka Gateway's project."
''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' described Malaysian Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad
Mahathir bin Mohamad ( ms, محاضير بن محمد, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; ; born 10 July 1925) is a Malaysian politician, author, and physician who served as the 4th and 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia. He held the office ...
as the "strongest opponent of Melaka Gateway".
Mahathir said of the project "We are very concerned because in the first place we don’t need any extra harbor."
The chief executive of KAJ reacted to the cancellation saying that KAJ were contemplating taking legal action against the state saying "We are left with no choice. Our project is canceled after we spent millions of our own resources to conduct various environmental studies and pay licensing fees."
In December 2020, the company filed a judicial review challenging the termination notice issued by the Malacca State Government. In February 2021, the judicial review was dismissed by the court.
See also
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Arab City Melaka
Arab City Melaka was a commercial development project in Malacca Island, Malacca, Malaysia. It was a joint venture between Golden Corporate Heritage Sdn Bhd (GCH) and Malacca's state company. The project, considered "the first ever in the world", ...
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Megaprojects
A megaproject is an extremely large-scale investment project.
According to the ''Oxford Handbook of Megaproject Management'', "Megaprojects are large-scale, complex ventures that typically cost $1 billion or more, take many years to develop and ...
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Malacca Island
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Forest City, Johor
External links
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References
{{coord, 2.1790, N, 102.2557, E, source:wikidata, display=title
Artificial islands of Asia
Islands of Malacca