Penang Ferry Service To Be Separate Entity From Oct 1

PENANG, Sept 24 (Bernama) -- The Penang ferry service will be separated as a subsidiary of Penang Port Sdn Bhd (PPSB) from Oct 1 as part of a restructuring plan to list PPSB on Bursa Malaysia.

PPSB Managing Director Datuk Ahmad Ibni Hajar said the plan had received the blessing of the Economic Planning Unit in the Prime Minister's Department, Finance and Transport Ministries.

" The move to separate the ferry service from PPSB was instructed by the EPU. The EPU wanted two separate entities -- PPSB and ferry service. Both are different operations," he told reporters.

Ahmad however said PPSB will work with Rapid Penang Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of RAPID KL, to use the ferry services to transport Rapid Penang buses with passengers to the mainland.

He said PPSB will hold talks with Rapid Penang for its buses to use the ferry service to destinations on the mainland and vice-versa. "

Currently, there is only 25 per cent passenger load on our ferries. We're looking into ways to cut wastage.

" We've been making losses since 2002 in operating the ferry service," he added.

Last year, the ferry service incurred its worst ever losses following fuel price hike, chalking up RM24.6 million in losses, almost double of the RM14.4 million losses suffered in 2007.

PPSB has eight ferries plying the Penang Channel between the Raja Tun Uda Ferry Terminal in Butterworth and Sultan Abdul Halim Ferry Terminal on the island.

-- BERNAMA

Thumbs-up for ‘Najibnomics’

Saturday September 12, 2009

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has covered good ground since taking office on April 3 with a number of positive policies and actions.

They include liberalising the New Economic Policy, ensuring greater transparency, speeding up the award of government infrastructure pro-jects and improving ties with Singa-pore to draw more foreign direct investments into Iskandar Malaysia, a development region in Johor twice the size of Singapore.

Aimed at stimulating the local economy, attracting foreign investments and foreign talent, reducing bureaucracy, tackling crime and corruption, effecting greater accountability and promoting national unity (through the 1Malaysia concept), Najib’s policies have been impressive.

CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, an independent brokerage and investment group headquartered in Hong Kong, described Najib’s positive economic and social reforms as “Najibnomics”, given his economics background.

With his background on industrial economics from the University of Nottingham, CLSA said Najib had been quick to effect various fiscal, government and structural reforms.

In its special strategy report on Malaysia, CLSA said: “Although he has until March 2013 to call for the next general election, we believe he has little choice but to work quickly as the clock is fast ticking.

“Najib not only has to implement new policies to reform the government and turn around the economy simultaneously, he has to deliver some decent results to ensure that the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition performs better than in the last general election in March 2008.”

On the economic front, CLSA said it expected the Malaysian economy to recover in 2010 while consumer sentiment was also improving.

In view of Malaysia’s high savings rate at 43.3% of the GDP which would support private consumption while the impact of weak imports from Western countries would not be too severe, it pointed to an economic recovery next year.

Malaysia’s 2009 GDP has been forecast to decline by 4 to 5% this year compared to a growth of 4.5% last year.

CLSA’s expectations are in line with that of Bank Negara Malaysia, which indicated that the country’s growth outlook for the second half of 2009 was expected to improve after the economy contracted at a slower rate of 3.9% in the second quarter of 2009 following a 6.2% contraction in the first quarter of the year.

The central bank said there were increasing signs that conditions in the global economy were stabilising as the pace of the decline in economic activity was moderating in advanced countries.

CLSA said that its recent contacts with Malaysian companies revealed that most were cautiously optimistic and were coping fairly well with the economic downturn.

“There has not been any high-profile debt default while non-performing loans in the banking system remain benign. Companies have merely been hit by shrinking revenues, thinning margins and higher receivables, while corporate governance issues have been sporadic.

“Most companies believe that the worst is over. Having said that, they do think the way forward will remain challenging as unemployment continues to creep up,” CLSA said.

The investment group also conducted a survey among 300 respondents, two-thirds of them from Kuala Lum-pur, and ascertained that Malay-sians were coping well with the downturn, with only 22% of them saying that their employment had been affected.

In terms of household income, 44% said they experienced a decline in income while 10% experienced an increase.

About 70% said they had changed their spending patterns, reducing expenditure on food, clothing as well as leisure.

Essentials like mortgages, utilities, transport, children’s education, healthcare and communications have been largely unaffected by the downturn.

CLSA said these simple surveys and feedback from companies and consumers seemed to tie in with the findings of the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research. — Bernama

Transformation of gov’t delivery system to begin, says PM

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 12 – The government is set to begin the transformation process in strengthening the efficiency of its delivery system, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

He said after five months of taking office in April, the first phase of the process – planning, developing and program alignment – had been completed and now it was into the implementation phase.

He said the transformation on improving its front line (counter) services would also be focused on as it provided the front line interaction with the public and thus required a service of the finest standards.

He said this was also in line with his resolute commitment to transform the quality of life of all Malaysians by significantly improving the efficiency of the government, since he took office last April.

“In ensuring the one-stop centre framework truly delivers, improvements will be made to ensure faster and more streamlined processes, more customer-oriented service, and a better system of integration between departments,” he said in his latest posting in his blog www.1malaysia.com.my.

“Through the execution of these planned changes, we can offer quantifiable results. This will make for a stronger, more effective and more accountable Government,” he added.

Najib also invited the public to continuously provide constructive feedback so that the transformation could be accomplished.

On the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and National Key Result Areas (NKRA), the prime minister said these initiatives were not mere acronyms as they offered clear measures designed to ensure that the government was continuously working to better serve the needs of all Malaysians.

“On reaching the milestone of my first 100 days, I announced stringent Key Performance Indicator (KPI) targets for the nation. They have been set for all government ministries, alongside six National Key Result Areas (NKRAs).

“Our real work will begin as we make the transformation of government services happen,” he said.

Last week, Najib appointed Datuk Seri Idris Jala to lead the newly established Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) and to oversee the many performance management changes required throughout the government.

Idris will also coordinate with the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon, on issues related to Pemandu.

“These KPIs are the delivery mechanism designed to help us achieve our desired results. The outcome we aim to achieve is the same one highlighted by past administrations under Vision 2020: to transform Malaysia into a high-level income developed nation.

“This is an ambitious goal. We have long stated the aim of reaching it by 2020 as embodied in the Vision 2020 policy. People First, Performance Now is an expression that reconciles the current socio-economic position of Malaysia with this goal through effective implementation of KPIs and NKRAs, thus integrating it seamlessly as part of this journey,” he added. – Bernama