Pengerang oil and gas hub takes shape

NST 24 February 2012 | last updated at 09:39pm

By SIM BAK HENG
KOTA TINGGI
johor@nst.com.my

Seven villages to make way for the massive project, and their residents provided with land and new houses.

Land reclamation for the construction of an oil terminal has started in Kampung Sungai Kapal. Pic by Amad Bahri Mardi

SEVEN villages and their residents in Pengerang, Kota Tinggi, will be making way for an oil and gas hub that will take 15 years to build.

Kampung Sungai Kapal, Kampung Telok, Kampung Langkah Baik, Kampung Empang, Kampung Sungai Buntuh and Kampung Jawa and Kampung Lepau are the villages affected by the development.

The villagers will be relocated in Teluk Ramunia, where new houses will be ready for them. This is expected to happen in two years.

The project will only commence after the villagers have moved, said Tanjung Surat assemblyman Datuk Haron Abdullah in an exclusive Streets interview.

He said 2,000 households from six villages -- Kampung Lepau is uninhabited -- were affected by the project in southeast Johor.

"Each household will receive a 557sq m plot of land, on which the Johor government will build their house -- all for free. The cost of the new house will match the value of the house in the village.

"Until the new houses are ready, the villagers can get on with their lives as usual," he said.

Land reclamation for the construction of an oil terminal in the coastal area of Kampung Sungai Kapal began early this year.

This year, in October, an oil palm estate in Kampung Lepau will be cleared for the construction of an oil refinery.

Haron said the main part of the development will only proceed when the villages are vacated.

It has been reported that the oil and gas hub would house facilities for processing, refinery, storage and fabrication, and a bunkering shipyard and marine-related industries.

The hub is among the many projects under the Economic Transformation Programme and Entry Point Projects in Johor.

Pengerang was found to be the best site for the hub as its location would facilitate cargo movement from the west and Middle-East to Eastern countries such as China.

In consideration of the massive development, the Johor government has created a masterplan for Pengerang, which has a population of 20,000.