MALAYSIA and China will meet in the coming days in both Putrajaya and Beijing to plan work on starting three new ports along the Strait of Malacca and develop the Bandar Malaysia project, said the Straits Times today.

China’s Public Security Minister Guo Shengkun, leading a 35-man delegation to Malaysia, is scheduled to meet Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi tomorrow on the RM43 billion Malacca Gateway port and another RM100 billion port on Selangor’s Carey Island.

The third is a dedicated energy port in Bagan Datoh, Perak, which Zahid first brought up in Beijing in January. Bagan Datoh is also Zahid’s constituency.

The energy port in Bagan Datoh will link an oil pipeline cutting across the peninsula to Bachok, Kelantan, at an estimated cost of RM30 billion, the daily said.

The Straits Times said Guo and Zahid are leading the talks because the ports and pipeline projects are ventures of mutual security interests to Beijing and Putrajaya.

Separately, Finance Ministry secretary-general Irwan Serigar Abdullah is headed to Beijing later this week to settle the 1MDB-related real estate project, Bandar Malaysia.

The redevelopment of the Sungai Besi airforce base is the final settlement for the scandal-hit state investor 1Malaysia Development Berhad.

The 197ha development was owned by 1MDB under its real estate unit 1MDB Re and seen as a central transport hub, connecting a high-speed rail (HSR) terminus to Singapore, Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) lines, KTM Komuter, Express Rail Link (ERL) and 12 other highways.

On May 9, it was reported that Irwan would manage both the Bandar Malaysia and the Tun Razak Exchange developments.

In Beijing, the Straits Times said, he is to hold talks with Chinese state-owned enterprises – such as China Overseas Land and Investment as well as Greenland Group – on their possible involvement in the development.

Irwan will also meet entertainment and property developer Dalian Wanda, which is controlled by one of China’s richest men. The company is likely to become the master developer of Bandar Malaysia.

This follows the termination of an earlier Malaysian-Chinese joint venture between Iskandar Waterfront Holdings and China Railway Engineering Corp to acquire a 60% interest in Bandar Malaysia for RM7.4 billion.

These visits are a follow-up on the infrastructure initiatives Prime Minister Najib Razak and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed two weeks ago at the One Belt, One Road conference in Beijing. – May 31, 2017.