KUCHING, March 5 — The state government is still working with the federal government on the amount of compensation to be paid by the state for taking over Bintulu Port, Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah said today.

He said a joint working committee consisting of the federal Ministry of Transport and the Sarawak State Financial Secretary’s Office are tasked with looking into the matter.

"I don’t want to say how much of it,” he replied, referring to the amount of compensation.

He was asked by reporters if the amount could run into a few billions of ringgit, after witnessing the handing over of two new units of electric-powered quay cranes from HLG Equipment Sdn Bhd to Kuching Port Authority at Senari Port in Bako.

On January 8 this year, a decision was reached to hand over the country’s premier liquefied natural gas port to the Sarawak government by the federal government in June.

The decision was reached in a joint committee meeting chaired by Uggah, who is also the state minister of infrastructure and port development, and the federal Minister of Transport Anthony Loke here.

In a joint statement, Uggah and Loke announced the federal Ministry of Transport would table a law to dissolve the Bintulu Port Board Act 1981 in the Parliament session this year.

They said that the state government will create the Bintulu Port Board under the Port Board Ordinance 1961, to ensure the operation of the port will run smoothly once the state government takes over.